Treasurer's Report

The Headlines: 

• Like many organisations, the church has been financially affected by thelockdown and the impact of coronavirus restrictions on daily life.
• We are forecasting that we will have an operating deficit of £34k acrossthe whole year (i.e. our income in 2020 will be £34k less than our expenditurein 2020, excluding specific one-off projects and giving). This gap is mainlydue to a significant 50% reduction in cash collections, but we also have lowerthan normal income from Church Hall lettings, and decreased income fromweddings since many of them have been postponed to 2021.
• Almost half of our total income comes from regular planned giving; andthe good news is that this is up by 10% compared to 2019. One-off generaldonations have also increased.
• We are forecasting that overall expenditure across the year will beon-track compared to our expected level of spending.
• ASM had a strong year financially in 2019, with a net surplus of £30kacross the year. Therefore, if we end 2020 as forecast, and take into accountthe surplus made in 2019, we will only have a small operating deficit of £4k whencounting the two years together. We are truly grateful for the on-going supportof so many people.
• We have been blessed by generous giving during the year to enable directfinancial support to be provided to members of the church in need; and we havewitnessed the amazing financial response by the community in their support ofMeals from Marlow. We have received generous donations from the Friends of AllSaints’ Marlow and Sennheiser UK towards the upgrading of the audio-visualsystem in the church building.

If you want a bit of detail: The full Treasurer’s report and forecast for 2020 can be found here, but just start with page 1 of the report, which is a summary of the position we’re forecasting ASM will be in at the end of 2020 versus the budget; using actual figures to the end of August 2020, then estimates for Sep to Dec (any figures in brackets are worse than budget, and those not in brackets are better than budget). Please note when reading page 1 that we budgeted for a £9k surplus overall for 2020; and now we are forecasting a £34k operating deficit for the year.

If you want more detail: See pages 2,3 and 4 of the Treasurer’s report, which show the forecasted income and expenditure positions at the end of December 2020, versus the 2020 budget; with some commentary to explain the reasoning behind the year-end forecasting.

If you like a lot of detail: See pages 5 to 10 of the Treasurer’s report, which show the net assets position at 31 August 2020 (page 5), the income and expenditure positions at the end of Q2 on 30th June 2020 (pages 6 & 7), and the quarter-by-quarter reforecasting figures versus budget for the full year (pages 8, 9 & 10). Considering the balance sheet at the start of 2020, the £29.9k net surplus in 2019 increased net assets to £195.7k at 1st January 2020 (comprising cash and deposits of £122.1k, investments of £77.2k, and working capital of -£3.6k). Therefore, if our forecasted end of 2020 operating deficit for the year is £34k, we will finish the year with unrestricted cash and deposits of £85k; i.e. still with the minimum level of reserves intact in accordance with our Reserves Policy, which will be a blessed position to have in the current circumstances.