FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
This is the fourth of the posts giving feedback from the recent BRSC AGM.
The Chairman read out a statement in respect of our accounts for the year.
Members attention will be drawn to Note 8 in the statement of accounts presented to you this evening. Please remember that this is the twice-postponed 2016 AGM and the Financial Report before you now refers to the state of the Club’s accounts on the 30th of June 2016. The accounts are in a far better state today. With regards to the “misappropriation of funds” referred to in the report I can inform you that the Trustees, working in close collaboration with our Accountant, have retrieved the majority of the missing funds. Furthermore, the balance of funds still outstanding, along with all the extra legal and financial expenses incurred as a result of the loss, are now completely secure thanks to the Club having a first claim on a property that is presently on the market. The Trustees continue to work closely with our Accountants and Bankers in order to prevent the possibility of this sort of loss being repeated in the future.
The Avon & Somerset Police have made an arrest in connection with this matter and we understand that charges may be pending. Therefore we are not in a position to comment any further on this matter for the time being.
I can report that we are currently in negotiation with our Bank Account Manager and Sue, Chris and myself (Secretary, Vice-Chairman and Chairman), have another meeting planned with her for next Thursday. At this moment in time the Supporters Club has £120,000 in our main account and all invoices have been paid. There are no outstanding bills to pay and the Share Scheme Account is untouched. However, there are other accounts that require closure and we are presently moving money around to achieve a ‘slimming-down’. This is one of the matters we will be discussing with Barclays next week.
Meantime, with regards to the future we have quadrupled our hold on the accounts. At present all invoices are being paid electronically with Sue, (Secretary), setting-up payments and me, (Chairman), authorising them for immediate settlement. Chris, (Vice-Chairman), will also be able to authorise payments from next week and all three of us will have 24-hour access to the Barclays accounts. We are employing Martin Hill, (who many of you will know as one of our coach stewards), as a book-keeper dealing with staff wages, income tax, P.A.Y.E. and V.A.T. etc. and also Doug Green, who is Treasurer to the Rovers’ Community Department, will issue monthly reports to the Committee so both will also need access to the accounts when we can set this up with Barclays. Our accountant Clive Farquhar already has viewing-access-only so members can rest assured that their money is now in safe hands.
We have been informed today that the property we have first claim on currently has two buyers lined up so I am confident that all the money due to us will be in our account very soon. The 2017 Financial Report should therefore be published on time with copies available to members for the next AGM, (due end September/early October), with all funds intact.
I apologise on behalf of the Committee for the loss reported this evening and trust that you will appreciate that everything possible has been done to correct things and to ensure that there will be no repeat. I therefore ask you to pass these accounts secure in the knowledge that everything will be corrected within a month or so.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Clive for his excellent work, to my fellow trustees Chris and Sue for their efforts to put all this right and to Ken Masters for his support during what has been a most harrowing and worrying experience.
