Finance Report 2020

Our financial year ended on 5th April 2020, so this report covers that last financial year and this financial year to date.

Review of the 2019/20 financial year ending 5th April 2020

We had a total income of £55,135 (2019: £59,688), of which £42,255 (2019: £39,779) was from individual donations. This included £7,200 (2019: £7,200) from our very generous anonymous sponsor. Our income from advertising was £12,168 (2019: £19,096). The remaining income included £577 (2019: £612) from Give As You Live and £135 (2019: £201) from the sale of re-useable cups.

Our expenditure was £63,638 (2019: £61,242). IT costs were £35,063 (2019: £33,144). We spent £20,938 (2019: £19,742) on media and local events, £6,113 (2019: £4,993) on work with local councils to promote Freegle, £35 (2019: £1,170) on fundraising, £425 (2019: £412) on public liability insurance, and £1,064 (2019: £1,126) on administration.

This resulted in a deficit for the year of £8,503 (2019: £1,554 deficit), and we had a surplus brought forward from last year of £26,556 (2019: £28,110) so are left with reserves of £18,053 (2019: £26,556), of which £1,239 (2019: £1,239) are restricted for specific costs, and £16,814 (2019: £25,317) are unrestricted.

Note – These figures are net of a £2,320 (2019:£4,480) liability for 19% Corporation Tax on income from Advertising, and a £930 (£2019: nil) accrual for accountants fees for the preparation of the 2019 and 2020 accounts and the corporation tax return. The published accounts are prepared on a cash basis i.e. do not take into account any monies owing, so the results for the year in the published accounts will look better by £3,250 (2019:£4,480).

Review of the current financial year ending 5th April 2021

This financial year, for the six months to 5th October 2020, we have had income of £33,651. This includes £1,287 of advertising revenue, £15,498 via Paypal/Paypal Giving Fund and £3,600 from our anonymous sponsor.

Expenditure for the same period was £30,133 - mainly £17,752 on platform maintenance, development and other IT costs, £9,067 on national media work (incl expenses) and £3,260 on council contact work.

This means we have generated a surplus of £3,518 and now have reserves of £21,571.

ACCOUNTS

The accounts for year ending 5th April 2020 and for the 6 months to 5th October 2020 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 2019/20 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

Links:
AGM 2020
AGM 2020 Agenda