1. Treasurer’s Report Accounts for year ending 31/3/12
Pleased to present the accounts for the year 4/11 to 3/12
All members have been informed that the full accounts are available on the NGA website events AGM and About us section
and shortly the charity commission site and a summary in the Sept mag
My thanks to the NGA Office staff for their hard work and contribution to the administration of the finances of the association
All funds are unrestricted The papers have given you the overview this is some of the detail behind 1

2. 11/12 £37,408 Income over expenditure 10/11 £ 2,147 09/10 £36,055
11/12 £37,408
10/11 £ 2,147
09/10 £36,055
08/09 £22,012
This is the headline end of year figure – a much more comfortable year end than the last. This was against a budget surplus of £3300, and was due to membership numbers increasing more than expected over the year. 2

3. Income
Expenditure
11/12
£414,903
£377,495
10/11
£357,694
£355,547
09/10
£453,992
£417,937
08/09
£403,745
£381,733
So income increased – and we were able to invest in the staff team a little more, with two new information officers who help improve services to members

4. Income
Membership: Continued to increase – the biggest increase in members we have ever had. Now even bigger part of our income than ever before.
Publications: There was a slight reduction in bulk orders from LAs – although these have since recovered in the first half of 2012, to the extent it took us by surprise; this could have been in part because of the improved content of the new edition of Welcome to Governance published in Jan We have not increased the price of WtG and the Chair’s Handbook
All other income – breakdown on next slide, but the reduction in this income two years ago was largely due to ’ austerity’ in public sector

5. All other income Breakdown of all other income
Point out the axis is only up to £70K (compared with £300k on previous slide) ie these are minor income streams for NGA compared with membership & publications
Consultancy/contracts crashed with central government restrictions on communicatons work; however those contracts had high costs (often postage) as well as took staff time. We now only undertaken on this work where the activity contributes to the aims of the organisation i.e. the effectiveness of the governing bodies – and benefits our members
Advertising continued to fall (although this has been stemmed by the redesign to Governing Matters) but this was compensated for by increasing sponsors to seven by end of March.
There were no charges for conferences this year – hence the only income is from the exhibition. We have no plans to reintroduce them charges for conferences (apart for non-members and individual members to the second conference). The reason we introduced charges for individual members to the second conference (not this Annual conference) is the cost of a delegate at a conference is more than the membership fee of £35, and we are encouraging individual members to join their governing body where the conference places will be free.
Other income – includes very minor income such as speaking fees & bank interest. In 2008/09 it included backing for the NGA awards held in alternate years – but this is now difficult to obtain from either the public or private sector.

6. Expenditure
Increase in membership costs – really pleased higher proportion of our efforts are going directly into services for the membership. If the conference costs are added to this, we spend very slightly more on membership services than we obtain from membership fees.
Publications – the reduction in cost of the guides is due to the decision not to produce a new edition of Support & Challenge or Welcome to Clerking, and instead to update and transfer the information to the members’ website.
Contracts – the expenditure is very low, reflecting the income;

7. Expenditure
Again axis is £70k as opposed to £300k – minor heads of expenditure.
Securing advertising is largely carried out by the magazine’s publishers, and therefore this represents the time working with sponsors, which increased slightly due to having more sponsors.
Conferences: the slight reduction in expenditure was due to holding the two conferences outside London where venues are a little cheaper
The other expenditure is largely due to the expenditure on the awards scheme which culminated with the event in the House of Commons in April 2011; however expenditure was contained compared with the 2009 scheme.
In the past the costs of governance were disproportionate relative to the size of the organisation, and we have been working to reduce those accordingly while aiming to increase the effectiveness of the Trustees. If you are asked this – these costs do include staff time as well as Trustees’ expenses (but they don’t include representation expenses which go under membership services). Expenses paid to Trustees did rise slightly this year from £7,035 to £7,828.

8. End of year position
£161,234
£123,938
£121,791
£ 85,735
This is just a snap shot at a particular point it doesn’t mean these are static – cashflow is very important point. Stock, cash and debtors/creditors do change from month to month. August and December tend to be our lowest income, and thus our lowest cash points of the year.
Our reserves policy is to aim for three months running costs plus our estimated closing down costs which at April 2012 the total required reserve was £180K: in case you are asked our cash is as of tomorrow - £178K. It is of course likely to go down between now and January – and again when we pay the rest of ThankQ 8

9. The budget for the current year (2012/13)
Breakeven budget was set in February with modest increases in membership
It included the recruitment of a Business Development Manager to begin at the half year
End of year surplus then allowed us to invest in the organisation: in particular IT improvements, including a new server and a new database.
Once we get members, we don’t seem to lose them – though we are not complacent given the financial circumstances everyone is in. But our fees are not high in comparison with the benefits and what others charge.
Reminder end of year profit was £37k. Both server and database were no longer fit for purpose.

10. The current year (2012/13)
At the half-year point, membership has increased faster than predicted in the budget
We are investing in the staff team to improve services to members with two new information officers who began work in October, and improved office space, with a training room from December.
With Eastern Leadership Centre we were successful in winning a license for the National College’s Chairs’ Development Programme; but we do not expect any income for NGA in this financial year
Once we get members, we don’t seem to lose them – though we are not complacent given the financial circumstances everyone is in. But our fees are not high in comparison with the benefits and what others charge.
2/22/2019

11. Conclusion
2011/12 was a good year: even better than expected in terms of recruiting members
We are investing the surplus into improving the organisation’s services to members
NGA is a growing organisation, and while there are challenges still to continue that growth, NGA finished this financial year more stable than at any point in its six year existence.
Trustees receive a quarterly business development report which monitors progress and considers new opportunities
In effect the strategy is to continue to improve the members’ benefits – in particular the content in the members’ section of the website.
Please go out and spread the word about membership – the more members we have the more we can do for each of you.
Any questions