NB. This is archived material from Assembly 2004

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Administration & Finance Policy Group

Synopsis

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</typohead><//typohead><typolist type="1"></typolist>Assembly Assessment Year End Accounts Debtors Fire Insurance Fund Financial Services Team Computer System 2004/05 Budget and two subsequent years Charities Bill and Financial Reporting Act. Future Matters Personal </typolist><//typolist><typohead type="2"></typohead>Report
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</typohead><//typohead><typohead type="3"></typohead>1. Assembly Assessment </typohead><//typohead>1.1 Following the last meeting of the General Assembly the Policy Group continued discussions with a number of interested parties regarding single assessment. A considerable number of submissions were made and considered with particular attention to the calculation of income. 1.2 Underlying the consideration was a concern for equity of assessment of congregations. 1.3 The firm belief that the New Testament advice for the strong to assist the weak applied to this consideration guided us to seek to ease the burden carried by some congregations while treating with fairness those in stronger financial positions. The published assessments came as a shock to some larger congregations and an effort has been to accommodate their concerns without penalising others. 1.4 In all our calculations there was a determination not to increase the total national assessment above the level of the then current levies. <typohead type="3"></typohead>2. Year end Accounts </typohead><//typohead>2.1 The 2003/04 Assembly´s annual accounts year end process is proceeding as planned and the audited annual accounts are expected to be available for the General Assembly. 2.2 Many of the difficulties encountered in the completion of the 2002-03 Audit have assisted in the reshaping of our accounting systems to improve the ability to produce timely, relevant and accurate accounts. 2.3 The policy group has continued exploring the issue of congregational financial auditing but does not, at this stage, have fresh recommendations. <typohead type="3"></typohead>3. Debtors </typohead><//typohead>3.1 At June 2004 the Assembly had almost $1.2 million owing to it. Of that sum 80% had been unpaid for more than five months. It is a major issue that in excess of $1.0 million could be available to the church if accounts were paid in a timely manner. <typohead type="3"></typohead>4. Insurance Fund </typohead><//typohead>4.1 The Assembly approved the disestablishment of the Fire Insurance Fund in 1998. Recently there has been a concern as to whether the 1998 decision was correct. A legal opinion was sought from a Wellington barrister who advised the decision was lawful. <typohead type="3"></typohead>5. Financial Services Team </typohead><//typohead>5.1 A substantial work load was placed on the Financial Services Team in implementation of new software and hardware during the year. The identification of weakness in a number of areas led to the recent engagement of an advisor to move the finance team to being a high performing team and recognised as such. A programme of changes to improve the efficiency is progressively being implemented. 5.2 It is fair to say, however, that not all requests to Financial Services team are either realistic or an appropriate use of the resources of the team. 5.3 The majority of congregational representatives have co-operated in the determination to ensure that all account balances entered onto the new system represented an accurate and agreed state. With the many hundreds of accounts held this has not been a simple task. <typohead type="3"></typohead>6. Computer System </typohead><//typohead>6.1 The new computer system is getting close to functioning to expectations. The system implementers have yet to finish addressing outstanding matters and the contract will not be signed off until this is done. The capability of the new system will allow greater efficiencies and timely production of financial information that the previous system did not allow. <typohead type="3"></typohead>7. 2004/05 Budget and two subsequent years </typohead><//typohead>7.1 When the 2003/04 budget deficit of $360,000 was presented to the Council of Assembly it was clearly identified that future budgets would have to balance income and expenditure. 7.2 The combined deficit for the two years to June 2004 is likely to be $1.6 million which has been financed from reserves. 7.3    To that end it has been necessary for us to present to the Council of Assembly a 2004/05 budget and plan that was sufficiently constrained to not only overcome the present deficit but return the accounts to a modest surplus during the three years. There are some one off costs that will be incurred in moving to a financially sustainable setting. The budget data is as follows:

2004/05 deficit	$0.660 million
2005/06 surplus	$0.280 million
2006/07 surplus	$0.290 million

<typohead type="3"></typohead>8. Charities Bill and Financial Reporting Act </typohead><//typohead>8.1 The Interchurch Working Party made a submission in respect of the Charities Bill and has made a request to appear before the Select Committee. 8.2 The same working party made a submission to the Ministry of Economic Development in respect of possible changes to the Financial Reporting Act. When the Bill appears the next steps will be determined. <typohead type="3"></typohead>9. Future matters </typohead><//typohead>9.1  The A & F Policy Group will be seeking to improve our effectiveness by seeking an increased level of accountability from all sub groups through mandates defined within specific terms of reference which will include periodic reporting requirements. There will be monthly Assembly financial statements from the 2nd quarter of the financial year which will inform us about progress on moving to a financially sustainable setting. There will be a need to ensure that the appropriate expertise is available in specialist areas when required as we move forward. <typohead type="3"></typohead>10. Personal </typohead><//typohead>10.1  Since the last General Assembly three of our members have resigned. We record our appreciation of their contribution - Catherine Barclay, Bruce Robertson, and Pauline Stewart. We have welcomed Barbara Crooks and Eoin Powell. Our newest member is Sandra Goodchild, formerly factor of the Otago Foundation Trust Board. Brian Williscroft
Ian Watson

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