Season 2010/2011 saw increased membership of the ICU with receipts from members totaling just over 23.5k. The Union has been run at a deficit of 1,380 euro and holds Reserves at the end of season of 6,831. It has also seen a number of changes in how the ICU is being run. Some of these changes, in terms of the financials, are listed below:
- Agreement to re-state Financial Statements into one coherent and consistent format for future years. This was not possible for the current years accounts as it would require a restatement of the prior year accounts, information for which is not sufficiently available. We are in a good position to implement this from the end of next season and I commend same to the incoming Treasurer.
- Introduction of a budgeting process to assist the Committee in structuring its decisions regarding how and when to allocate spend. Whilst this was not without some issues in its introduction phase, solid budgeting is best practice for any organisation and should lead to a better managed spend.
- Agreement that the ICU will co-ordinate individual payments for international events for which there are a number of players (to save on admin and bank charges for players).
- Accounting provisioning is now in place to smooth out non-annual high value expenses for the ICU. This has lead to an 1,800 provision in the accounts towards next years Olympiad.
- Further to the above, an agreement that a provision for the uplift in cost of hosting a Glorney Cup tournament be shared over the four years of a cycle, instead of all hitting in the year of hosting (such as happened this year).
Key financials:
(please refer to the financial statements for full figures)
- Receipts from members in the period 23.5k
- Glorney Cup costs 9.8k
- Junior training costs 2.4k
- FIDE costs (paid and accrued) 2.4k
- Irish Championships support cost 1.7k
- Other congress support costs 3.5k
There have been some issues this year with our bankers in terms of international payments out of our accounts. This is compounded by the fact that it requires two signatories to attend the bank each time a transfer is required and that there is no facility for internet review of the accounts (we still wait for paper statements each month). It would be advisable for the next Committee to look at other banking options which might give more flexibility.
You can download the ICU account for the season ending 31st August, 2011 here.