The Sky Blue Trust will be holding its Annual General Meeting at 7:30pm on Monday 18 July 2016, at the Royal Warwicks Club, Tower Street, Coventry.
In accordance with Rule 63 of the Trust’s Constitution, four current Board members must resign. This year, they are Rachael Brown, John Fletcher, Frank Smith and Bruce Walker. They are all entitled to put themselves forward for re-election. There is also a further vacancy caused by the resignation of a Board member earlier this year.
The election of Board members must follow the procedure set out in our Election Policy.
- Nomination forms are now available on the Trust website for Trust members wishing to seek election to the Board.
- The election will be carried out to the following timetable:
- Closing date for nominations - 20 June 2016
- Confirm number of eligible nominations - 27 June 2016
- If number is five or less, those nominated are elected at AGM
- If number is six or more, ballot papers issued - 4 July 2016
- Election results announced at AGM - 18 July 2016
Trust Accounts
The Trust’s affairs are regulated by legislation and by the Trust’s rules. The latest rules were adopted by the Trust in 2013, to follow the model provided by Supporters Direct. The rules were registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 11 June 2014.
The accounts have to be submitted to the FCA. The last set of accounts so submitted related to the year ended 31 January 2013 - the year before the new rules were adopted and these accounts were unaudited as allowed by the previous rules of the Trust.
The new rules require the accounts to be audited by qualified accountants who are regulated to undertake audit work. When the rules were adopted in 2013, the Trust was unaware of the likely cost of such an audit. We have since discovered that such an audit would cost an unacceptable amount. A West Midlands firm of auditors has quoted the sum of £1650 plus VAT as the cost of each annual audit. The Trust’s turnover for the year ended 31 January 2016 was £485 and for the year before was £1284.50.
In the light of this, when preparing for the AGM for 2014, the first year under the new rules, the Trust Board tried to identify a Coventry-based auditor, who could carry out the necessary work for a nominal fee, as a gesture of support to the Trust. The first such person to take on the role had to withdraw part way through the process. After a lengthy search, a further auditor was identified who carried out a substantial amount of work on both the 2013/14 and the 2014/15 accounts. However, he encountered differences relating to the 2012/13 accounts previously issued. As he was unable to resolve this matter, he reluctantly also had to withdraw. This meant that the accounts were not able to be submitted to the 2015 AGM.
The Trust Board has decided that, to regularise the position, it now needs to take action provided for in the legislation and the Trust rules, to arrange for the accounts to be subject to a far less costly Independent Examination by a competent individual, though not a regulated auditor.
The Trust engaged the services of a qualified Chartered Accountant, to conduct this Independent Examination and the task has been carried out without charge to the Trust. In the process of this review, he was able to resolve the problem relating to 2012/13 accounts.
Accordingly, revised accounts for 2012/13 and those for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 have now been completed, examined by the Independent Examiner and approved by the Board on 16 May 2016 for submission to this AGM. Those accounts have also been placed on the Trust website along with a summary and a statement from the Independent Examiner.
Roger Ellis
Secretary, the Sky Blue Trust