UKBGF Accounts for 2015 – 2017 now available in the members area

We have finalised the UKBGF accounts for the period from 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2017 and these can now be viewed in the members’ area. UKBGF members are invited to inspect the accounts and to submit any queries they may have to the UKBGF Board in advance of the AGM.  If questions about the accounts (or any other aspect of the UKBGF’s activities) are submitted by Friday 25^th August we will do our best to answer them at the AGM.  As previously announced by Julia Hayward in last month’s blogpost The UKBGF AGM 2017, this will be held at Coombe Abbey Hotel on Friday 1^st September at 5pm (the first day of the UK Open weekend).  Questions submitted after 25^th August, or at the AGM itself, will be answered at a later date if we are unable to answer them on the spot.

Although the UKBGF interim committee was formed almost two years before the start of the period covered by these accounts, membership income only commenced in April 2015.  Prior to this date we survived on loans and pre-paid registration fees from the first UK Open.

This two-year set of accounts has been prepared by Wayne Felton BCOM FCA, who spent much time going over my records and figures.  All the members of the UKBGF Board are extremely grateful to Wayne for all his time, help, advice and expertise.  The accounts demonstrate that the federation is in sound financial health, with an accumulated surplus of over £10,000 at the end of March 2017.  Since then, the surplus has increased and we currently have no significant future liabilities.  This financial buffer means that we will be in a much stronger position to withstand any unforeseen setbacks, and also to explore potential new avenues in pursuit of the UKBGF’s objectives.

Since the UKBGF ‘rescued’ the London Open (in both 2015 and 2016) there have been queries about money lost on running events.  In September 2016 I published a blog post entitled ‘What has the UKBGF spent members’ money on?’  In this post, it was stated that the 2016 London Open in Hackney had lost £1,908 and I also indicated that the net result including all events for the 15 months to 30^th June last year (and therefore excluding the London Open) was roughly break-even.  The total deficit from tournaments for the entire two-year accounting period is now shown as £3,221.  This higher figure is not because of a significant loss on a later event, but rather it is the result of the re-allocation of certain items in the accounts.  For example, when adding up the revenue for some events I had originally included income generated at that event from donations and sales of T-shirts and cubes etc.  These amounts are now included in the overall ‘sundry’ revenue figure of £2,316.  Other reallocations have also resulted in minor changes since publishing my interim figures of 30^th June 2016, but none of this ‘figure-shuffling’ has affected the overall surplus.

Anticipating a query about the ‘depreciation’ figure, this relates solely to the Hector Saxe tabletop boards and other equipment originally purchased from Mike Main. On Wayne’s advice all this equipment has been written off over three years.  We still own the equipment and we plan to continue using it at events for as long as it remains serviceable.

I am very much looking forward to our first AGM, as well as to the 4^th UK Open, at the magnificent Coombe Abbey Hotel. This UK Open is shaping up to be the best attended so far, with (at the time of writing) 146 pre-registered players spread over the three main flights (Masters, Advanced and Social Swiss).  Sixteen Masters players have also pre-registered for the Super Jackpot (which will be limited to 32 players).  The capacity of the venue is not much more than 150, so it may soon become necessary to close registrations.  Turning up on the day without having pre-registered is risky, because it is likely that you will then be relying on a no-show to vacate a spot for you in the tournament.  Therefore if you want to attend the AGM and play in the tournament, but your name does not yet appear on the Attendees list, please email contact@ukbgf.com without delay, mentioning the flight you wish to enter.