Finance Report 2019

FINANCE REPORT

Our financial year ends on 5th April, so this report is split between last financial year (which is now complete) and this financial year (which is about halfway through).

Review of the year ending 5th April 2019

We had a total income of £59,688* (2018: £40,439), of which £39,779 (2018: £37,731) was from individual donations. This included £7,200 (2018: £6,400) from our very generous anonymous sponsor. Our income from advertising increased significantly to £19,096* (2018: £947). The remaining income included £612 (2018: £761) from Give As You Live and £201 (2018: nil) from the sale of re-useable cups.

Our expenditure was £61,242 (2018: £42,366). IT costs were £33,144 (2018: £22,128) - the increase is due to £11,105 paid to a commercial third party for email optimisation tools. We spent £19,742 (2018: £18,243) on media and local events, £4,993 (2018: nil) on work with local councils to promote Freegle, £1,170 (2018: £200) on fundraising, £655 (2018: £610) on the Cumbria Waste Prevention project, £412 (2018: £392) on public liability insurance, and £1,126 (2018: £164) on administration. The increase in spend on administration was mainly due to paying the Independent Reporting Accountant's fees for 2017 and 2018 within the 2019 financial year.

This resulted in a deficit for the year of £1,554* (2018: £1,927 deficit), and we had a surplus brought forward from last year of £28,110 (2018: £30,037) so are left with reserves of £26,556* (2018: £28,110), of which £1,239 (2018: £1,894) are restricted for specific costs, and £25,317 (a) (2018: £26,216) are unrestricted.

(a)These figures are net of a £4,480 liability for 19% Corporation Tax on income from Advertising. The published accounts for the year ending 5th April 2019 are prepared on a cash basis i.e. do not take into account any monies owing, so the figures in the published accounts will be better by £4,480.

Review of the year ending 5th April 2020

This financial year, for the six months to 5th October 2019, we have had income of £31,345. This includes £4,965 of advertising revenue, £20,035 via Paypal/Paypal Giving Fund and £3,600 from our anonymous sponsor.

Expenditure for the same period was £25,680, mainly £13,760 on platform maintenance, development and other IT costs and £9,575 on national media work (incl expenses).

This means we have generated a surplus of £5,665 and now have reserves of £32,220.

ACCOUNTS

The accounts for year ending 5th April 2019 and for the 6 months to 5th October 2019 are here: www.freegle.it/accounts

AUDIT

Request from the Board of Freegle:

The Board would like the AGM to approve the disapplication for a full audit for the Freegle Ltd accounts 2018/19 and and instead accept Independent Examination from a qualified accountant. This would be in line with procedure used previously. The reason we are asking for disapplication of audit is due to the level of expense for an external auditor and time required from the volunteer Treasurer required for a full audit.

Under the laws governing Industrial and Provident Societies you must have a full audit if you are a charitable society type IPS and have a turnover of over £250,000 or assets in excess of £2,800,000. As we don't get anywhere close to these figures the expense and time for a full audit seems excessive when our transparency is confirmed by a qualified accountant through Independent Examination.

More information can be found in plain English from the Co-op here: An Audit Tale | Co-operatives UK http://www.uk.coop/blog/lindabarlow/2013-04-29/audit-tale ...and in the legal explanatory note here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/14/section/84

The Directors declare that they have approved the report above. Signed on behalf of the Directors of Freegle Ltd:

Edward Hibbert
Chairman
29/10/2019

Links:
AGM 2019
AGM 2019 Agenda