1 GENERAL ASSEMBLY
18 April 2018, Delft, The Netherlands Treasurer’s Report on Accounts for 2017
Jean-Jacques Bourdin and David Duce 9 April 2017
The audited accounts for 2017 prepared by our auditors, Audit & Co SA, are appended to this paper.These follow the pattern of the 2016 accounts.
1. Following some changes in Swiss accounting practice the auditors are using different software which produces a more detailed breakdown of the accounts. Some of the terminology of used such as “Shareholders Equity” is unfamiliar terminology for an Association, but maps to the term “Fortune” in previous years.
2. Conference surplus is the difference between event income and expenditure in the given year.
The heading includes all workshops and symposia as well as the annual conference.
3. The audited accounts include equipment depreciation as we agreed previously.
4. The item “Exceptional result” in the Profit and Loss Account and the Notes to the Financial Statements is taxation for 2016 paid in 2017 and associated rebates. Essentially in year X our taxation includes estimated taxation for year X-1 and this is then corrected in year X+1 when the taxation return for year X is submitted. So the “taxes” just contains the Professional, and Cantonal and Communal tax for 2017 which was assessed and paid in 2017, though there may be adjustments to this in 2018.
5. The item “Financial result” comprises bank charges, bank interest and difference in value of assets at 1 January 2016 exchange rates and 31 December 2016 rates.
6. Exchange rate differences between the Euro and CHF have a significant impact on the value in CHF of our Euro assets (9% increase between 2016 and 2017 exchange rates) and this makes a significant difference to the official CHF audited accounts.
The Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account (with 2017 budget comparison) on the next two pages are the same as the audited accounts, but using the Euro currency rather than CHF at an exchange rate of €1 = 1.17018 CHF (1.07200 CHF in 2016), the UBS official rate on 31 December 2017.
The full audited accounts appear in the Appendix to this document.
Warning: Members should be aware that the Euro figures presented in the tables below are to give a feel for values of the numbers in different currencies. This is NOT a restatement of the accounts in Euros (which would take account of the exchange differences of CHF assets valued in Euros, which is very different to Euro assets valued in CHF). The vast majority of the Association’s assets are in held in a Euro bank account.
The General Assembly is invited to approve the audited accounts (CHF figures).
