Union releases 12/13 Annual Report

This Tuesday the Union released their most recent annual report, covering last year’s activities. There have been some changes in the Union’s financial reporting methods, after the recent change to full charity status it now has to present financial statements according to the Charities SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice). The SORP requires a charity to not only present its finances, but also to do it in such a way that shows how financial transactions relate to their charitable activities.

The Union’s charitable activities fall into three categories, Social Enterprise, Student Activities & Development, and Student Voice. Social Enterprise incorporates the activities of the Union’s “licenced trade, retail outlets and the hiring of space”, which includes the bars run by the Union (on the South Kensington Campus) and the Union Shop and Gift Shop on campus.

Student Activities & Development, however, encapsulates all the activities relating to student volunteering and Clubs, Societies and Projects (CSPs). Meanwhile, the Student Voice category accounts for campaigning, representing student views and various other student-related democratic activities.

As a part of the changes to the accounting practices used to present the Union’s accounts (after gaining charity status), they now have to report the value of goods and services provided for Union use free of charge. This includes the provision of building space and IT services by College. Over the 2012-13 period, the Union (via CSPs) paid over £40,000 in affiliation fees to external bodies, including £20,096.82 to ‘British Universities & Colleges Sport’ (BUCS) and £5111.28 to Denham Golf Club.

The Union donated £145,296.37 through fund-raising activities last year, including donations of £35,235.75 to the Winnicott Foundation, £24,204.97 to Islamic Relief, £9297.00 to Tsunami Rehabilitation and £5,192.76 to Children in Need.

Examining the statement of Financial Activities (for the year ending 31 July 2013), ignoring the £359,804 estimated for support costs (which are in fact provided by College for free), over the 2012-13 year the Union made a £171,246 surplus from Social Enterprise Activities (including bars, the Union Shop and hiring out spaces in the Union building).

Overall, the Union seems to be in a healthy financial position, having achieved a surplus of £196,112 over the 2012-13 period.

According to the Union’s Balance Sheet on 31 July, the Union owned £190,960 worth of stock (think goods for sale), was owed £50,699 by debtors and had a total of £1,525,434 between funds in the Union bank account and cash held on the premises. While the Union also owed its creditors a total of £514,921 at that point in time, after taking into account the value of the Union’s investments (£110,627) and the value of its tangible fixed assets (£5,398,106 – which we assume includes the value of the building containing the Union offices), the Union had (at the time) net current assets worth £6,760,904. In terms of staff salaries, the Union seems to pay a total of £1,773,812 (including pension and National Insurance contributions), with £1,045,000 going to staff in the Social Enterprise category (including full and part-time staff and students at the Union’s bars and shops). According to the report on average 49 permanent staff and 109 student staff were employed over the 2012-13 period. The highest paid employee at the Union is paid between £70-80,000.

Overall, the Union is in a good financial position, having made a strong recovery from the 09-10 period and now has healthy reserves which can be used to improve the student experience at Imperial.