WORLD JERSEY CATTLE BUREAU

TREASURER’S REPORT FOR THE 2007 COUNCIL MEETING IN BRAZIL

by Steve Le Feuvre (Jersey Island)

To ensure the long-term viability of the finances of the Bureau, the priority during 2006 was to begin a process of consolidation leading to cost cutting where possible, and then some radical thinking of how best to secure an income stream for the future.

During the 2006 Council Meeting held in Switzerland, a three year budget and plan (2007-2009) was presented and accepted, and the Council began to align some of its decision-making to this blue print. The discipline that hopefully the Bureau will adhere to in the coming years will place it in a much stronger position financially, so that available resources can be used for specific projects and tasks it wishes to pursue.

Income
Country Member Fees - The collection of member country annual fees continues to be a time-consuming and frustrating task, and the Council must consider what action to take against those countries who consistently fail to pay the annual fees that are due.

Life Membership Fees - With very little income generated from this labour-intensive and time-consuming activity, as part of a longer-term plan, I would recommend that the collection of individual life membership fees is suspended. It would be far better to concentrate efforts on other, more informal, fundraising events.

Levy on Annual Meetings and Conferences – This vehicle for raising funds should become more important in the future, especially when world conferences are held. Switzerland did exceptionally well in giving £3,183 from the 2006 annual meetings held there (budget figure was £3,000).

Sir James Knott Trust – We continue to receive £2,000 per year from this Jersey-based fund, and this funds the Youth Travel Programme. It is proposed that during the latter half of 2007, representation be made to SJKT with a view to requesting an increase in their very generous grant to enable more funds to be available for this very important part of the Bureau’s work.

Expenses
The “running expenses” were kept under control and it is very important that this continues into the future. I would therefore urge Council to ensure that any decisions made are done so very much with consequential cost in mind.

The audit fee shows as £1,250 for 2006, made up of the agreed sum of £950 plus an additional sum of £300 due to being undercharged for 2005 for the audit process. I propose to embark on another round of tendering for this work, as I feel that this element of expenses is disproportional to the amount of work that it takes to prepare accounts and conduct an audit.

Conclusion
The Bureau finds itself in a healthy position financially, and this has to be good for the future as it will enable the organisation to carry out some of the projects and tasks that it wishes to pursue. However, I would make a plea once again to all Life Members and member countries to be ever aware that any decisions made regarding future activities or involvement of the Bureau, are bound to have financial implications. I am grateful to those member countries who have begun, or started to think about, fund-raising for the Bureau, and I would hope that this will continue and gather pace in the future.

Stephen V. Le Feuvre
(Honorary Treasurer, World Jersey Cattle Bureau)                                                                                         June 2007