Prof. Erik Eklund

1. Current Balance as 8 July 2010 $18,982.29 business transaction account + $10,618.22 business online saver account = $29,100.51 The main items of income include, as per usual, regular payments from Register Now for subscription renewals. A pleasing payment of $5,022.38 came from the CAL PLR and ELR schemes on 26th June. The main items of expense this quarter have been bills for History Australia including publication, printing and postage. The last BPA bill was $4,205.30 for printing Vol.7, no.1, and the Monash EPress bill was $7,885.46.

Members are welcome to discuss the accounts in detail if they wish. These accounts should be as transparent as possible to all members. If these reports and the audit are not detailed enough, or if members wish to ask a specific question, please contact Erik Eklund.


2. Audit

Richard O'Grady from Aitken Business Partners has finalised the AHA audit. The AHA's financial year runs from 1st June 2009 to the 31st May 2010. The main results, together with the previous year's comparison are as follows:

	2009–10 ($)	2008–09 ($)
Subscription and journal income	50,410	41,373
Total Income	70,157	75,497
Journal costs	28,588	23,131
Secretariat	32,285	36,792
Annual result	7,987 deficit	5,244 deficit

The auditor's report is tendered as a separate document for the information of executive members. An electronic copy will be made available to all members. I recommend the auditor's report be adopted by the meeting.


3. Audit result – discussion

The result partly relates to the timing of bills and income, and the end of the financial year; however, there are some discernible differences between the 08–09 and 09–10 financial years.

In 08–09 the Melbourne conference returned $30,000, while the Sunshine Coast conference returned $11,141. The money for the CAL bursaries ($8,400) is yet to be received from CAL, whereas last financial year it was paid before the 31st May.

The UBS investment has returned a surplus this year of $3,239 whereas last year it was a deficit of $13,236.

Subscription and journal income has increased. This is partly offset by increased journal costs and decreased 'other' income.


4. Westpac Term Deposits

All three AHA term deposits have updated authorities, such that the President and the Treasurer are now authorised to operate the accounts. I have with me further forms in order to update the authorities once the AGM process is complete. We can now act upon the resolution passed at the September 2009 Executive meeting to convert our three accounts into two, track interest income against prize expenses, and co-ordinate the entire process with the prize cycle.

A further complication from having outdated authorities has arisen. The auditor, your Treasurer and a helpful Westpac employee from the Leongatha Branch have identified that Westpac owe the AHA $1875 from Term Deposit No.2 which matured in September 2009. A cheque was drawn for this amount but never presented to our account. We can only surmise that the cheque was mailed to Macquarie University. I also have with me paperwork to cancel this cheque and have the money credited to our operating account.


5. Liability of AHA Executive Members

At the last executive meeting I was asked to investigate this issue. I secured an opinion from Monash University's solicitor's office. That advice essentially indicates that if the AHA Executive takes all reasonable steps to abide by the Association's constitution and enabling legislation then there is no personal liability for any Executive members. Crucial to this is the independent audit and a democratic AGM process. I will be reinforcing this message of transparency and openness to the AGM this year.


6. Motion to increase membership rates

Your treasurer supports this motion which will be presented to the AGM. While some costs have declined in this financial year, the overall trend is a steady increase in all costs in the context of income levels that have reached a plateau.


7. Tax Deductability of Donations to the AHA

This week the Executive has asked me to investigate this issue and register the AHA as a 'Deductible Gift Recipient' through the ATO.