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Finance
The Committee is
responsible for the general financial oversight of funds administered for
the benefit of the United Reformed Church under the overall authority of
the General Assembly, for ensuring that proper procedures are in place for
the maintenance of accounting records, the safe custody of assets and the
preparation of financial statements, for giving financial advice to other
councils of the church as appropriate, and for taking such decisions with
regard to the finances of the Church as are necessary within the policies
set by General Assembly.
Committee Members
Convener: Mr Graham Stacy (Hon. Treasurer)
Secretary: Mr Clem Frank (Financial Secretary - until 31 March 2000) Miss Avis Reaney ((Financial Secretary - from 1 April 2000)
Mr Alan Duncan, Mr Bill Grieve, Mr Gordon Latham, Revd John Piper,
Miss Catriona Waterson, Dr Brian Woodhall (Convener, United Reformed
Church Trust), Mr Tegid Peregrine (Church Buildings Secretary)
1 Staffing
1.1 On June 30th 2000 Clem
Frank will be retiring after 25 years of service. He joined the United
Reformed Church as Chief Accountant in July 1975 and became Financial
Secretary in 1978. Over the years Clem has contributed enormously to the
development of all of the financial structures and procedures we now
enjoy, from accounting systems to the Plan for Partnership in Ministerial
Remuneration, the Pension Fund and Retired Ministers’ Housing. We have
benefitted greatly from Clem’s skills and his Christian concern for the
Church and its people. We thank him for all that he has given and wish him
and his wife Betty a long and happy retirement.
1.2 In preparation for this
change, Chris Langham, ACA, who has assisted Clem as Accountant since the
beginning of 1996, was appointed as Chief Accountant on January 1st 2000.
Avis Reaney FCA was appointed as Financial Secretary, and took up her post
on April 1st 2000. The committee wishes these two members of the staff
well as they commence new spheres of service.
1.3 Two other members of
the staff of the Finance Office have completed more than 20 years of
service. David Ramsay who is now the cashier has served since September
1978, and Judy Stockings who is now in charge of the Maintenance of the
Ministry Office, and the detailed work on the United Reformed Church
Ministers Pension Fund, has served since January 1979. Other members of
the staff in the finance office have built up many years of service. The
committee records its appreciation of this long service.
2 Union with the Congregational Union of Scotland
2.1 The staff of the
finance office have been very much involved in the union of the Church
with the Congregational Union of Scotland. Whilst the settlement of
ministerial stipends and the operation of the minister’s pension fund
are primarily matters for the Ministries Committee, the detailed work is
carried out in the finance office, and members of the staff accompanied
the Treasurer on two occasions on visits to Scotland to ensure that the
financial arrangements for the union went smoothly.
3
Procedures
3.1 With the expected
changes in staffing in the Finance office, another major task in the year
has been to ensure that as many as possible of the procedures in the
office have been recorded. The index to the documents setting out
procedures now runs to over 100 topics.
4 The
millennium and electronic equipment
4.1 In the event, although widely forecast, no problems were caused by the ‘millennium bug’.
4.2 The somewhat old
data-base program that has been used for many years has been replaced with
the data-base from the office suite, ‘Access’; much effort went to
ensure that this complex change was achieved without disruption. The work
to update the computer programs continues.
5 Church
Buildings Fund
5.1 This fund continued to
be used mainly for the provision of housing for centrally appointed
ministers, and for the provision of building loans of up to £75,000,
being up to 50% of the cost of major works in local churches or the
provision of new manse accommodation. The emphasis on obtaining proper
professional advice continues, and approval has been given for a number of
feasibility study grants and professional fees loans. The demand for
disabled facilities grants continues, and up to the end of March 2000, 166
applications have been approved, and 124 paid at a cost of some £560,000.
5.2 The committee
was able to give a grant of £350,000 toward the cost of a new ecumenical
church building at The Ortons, Peterborough, in the East Midland Synod,
although only a small part of this sum had been drawn in the year.
5.3 Responsibility for the management of the Church Buildings Fund has now been passed to the Mission Council Grants and Loans Group.
5.4 At the same time, Tegid
Peregrine will retire from the position of Secretary for Church Buildings
which he has held for many years. We thank Tegid for his careful attention
to the many requests for assistance that he has handled, and are glad that
he will continue to help the Church centrally in his membership of the
Churches Main Committee, and
through the listed Buildings Advisory Group.
Resolution 28 Accounts
General Assembly adopts the accounts
for the year ended 31st December 1999.
1999
Accounts
The 1999 accounts are set
out in Appendix 1 and include a report from the Finance Committee
commenting on the result for the year and the
financial position as at 31st December 1999.
Resolution 29 Ministry
and Mission Fund
General Assembly gratefully
acknowledges the giving of the churches in 1999
to the Ministry & Mission Fund.
The giving
of the members of the Church to central funds.
The financial operation of
the Plan for Partnership in Ministerial Remuneration could not happen if
each Church Treasurer did not make very great efforts to ensure that the
money required for this part of the work is in the local bank account on
20th of each month, for collection by direct debit. That this system runs
very smoothly is evidence of much hard and devoted work, and in thanking
the Church for the response to the appeal for Ministry and Mission, which
once again has been met with a nearly 100% result, the committee would
also wish to acknowledge that largely unthanked group, the treasurers, in
local churches, and also at district and synod level.
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