St Andrew’s Psalter Lane Church Annual Church Meeting 21 April 2024 Financial Review
You will have noticed that this year our accounts are in a different format to how they have been in the past. This is because, due to the Spire Appeal, our income in the year exceeded £250,000, therefore we are not permitted to prepare accounts on a receipts and payments basis as we have done in the past. This year, the Trustees are required to prepare accounts which comply with Financial Reporting Standard 102. The accounts contain more detail than in previous years, and we are obliged to prepare a statement of financial activities and a balance sheet, which includes land and buildings.
During the accounting year ended 31 August 2023, unrestricted income was £182,160, expenditure was
£169,282, resulting in a surplus of £12,878. Our overall income was £326,069 and expenditure was
£222,296, resulting in net income for the year of £103,773.
In the year we started an appeal to raise £135,000 to pay for the repair of the church spire. By 31 August 2023 we had received from church members, the wider community, and grants from charitable organisations an amount of £106,869. In addition to this, we were fortunate to have received sufficient pledges of financial support to enable us to engage a contractor to undertake the work. Work commenced in early July and was ongoing on 31 August 2023. The repair has now been successfully completed within budget and we are delighted with our sparkling new spire.
Each year our Ecumenical Church Council reviews our Reserves Policy. Our aim is to maintain Unrestricted Reserves at a sufficient level to ensure financial resilience and sustainability, including protecting us against key risks. We seek to achieve an appropriate balance between financial resilience and stepping out in faith to use our funds in support of the mission of the church. Whilst we believe we should look ahead over a full year, as a minimum we should seek to have sufficient reserves for the next six months. We are pleased to confirm that on 31 August 2023 our unrestricted reserves were sufficient to fund six months budgeted expenditure.
Joe Dey
25 March 2024