This page contains Treasurer's Reports to the BCA Council for the following years: 1998/9

Treasurer's Report - 1998 Accounts

The numeric parts of the 1998 accounts were included in the paper version of this newsletter, they are not available electronically. Here are a number of points to note:

• On page 6, the "restricted funds" are the group accounts, the Hodgkin Prize and Bursary funds, whereas the "unrestricted funds" are everything else - current accounts and investments, centrally held by the BCA. The BCA has overall made a large operating surplus of £18,466 in 1998. This was entirely due to the large profit made by the St. Andrews Spring Meeting (£15,200), increased investment income, and increased advertising revenue from the Newsletter.
• The cyclical nature of the BCA's turnover is once again visible in the figures. This is due to the large CCG Teaching School event, which happens every two years. Finances for this event (apart from interest on its bank account) are collated in the accounts pertaining to that particular year - consequently, the BCA's turnover is much larger in CCG School years, and associated figures such as course fees, and the debtor/creditor balance, vary accordingly. There was no CCG School in 1998, so turnover is down on 1997.
• The amount spent on bursaries during 1998 was £3100, not £3500 as stated in the accounts. The mismatch is due to two bursary cheques having gone astray in the post and having to be rewritten. The donations figure for the General BCA Fund has been increased accordingly to account for this.
• As previously stated, the 1998 Spring Meeting in St. Andrews made a record large profit of £15,186. This was due to there being 77 more registrations than the break-even fee, and there being a much larger commercial exhibition than anticipated. Many congratulations are due to the local organiser Dr. Phil Lightfoot, both for his successful financial handling of the conference and for a quick and efficient production of accounts. The extra profit has already been used as bursaries to pay the registration fees of 47 postgraduate and postdoctoral BCA members for Glasgow.
• The Newsletter continues to break even and occasionally turn in a profit - over the year 1998, the four issues made a small total profit of £262 on a turnover in excess of £11,000. All credit to Kate Crennell.
• The BCA has two subscriptions to international bodies to pay each year - to the IUCr and the ECA. The amount payable to ECA is small, but that to the IUCr, via the Royal Society, has been £2200 for some years, due to the Royal Society's having considered that the UK should adhere at category 4 rather than 5. This decision has now been changed, but because the Royal Society insist that the BCA should now pay 50% of the total subscription, this amount will become £3300 within the next few years (although because of the relative timing of these decisions, and a phasing in of the latter, the amount payable by the BCA will reduce in the short term before reaching £3300 in 2002). Thus the financial burden on the BCA will continue to increase.

These accounts will be presented to the BCA AGM, to be held at the SECC, Glasgow, in August 1999.

Steve Maginn 28/4/99

Page last updated 30 May 1999

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