Please save the date for the next Finance Network Meeting on 26th May from 11:00am to 12:30pm.
The next Finance Network Meeting, “Managing Reserves, and consideration of reviewing costings“, is scheduled for 26 May, from 11:00 to 12:30. This meeting will cover the vitally important issues of managing reserves, revising reserves policies and reassessing costings models in the light of changed financial positions. Please save the date in your calendars for now and we will send round a sign-up link soon. Read on to find out more about the content of this session.
We are fortunate in having secured the services of Jill Halford, Head of Charities at BDO, to present on Reserves. In a recent article in Charity Finance, Jill said that in her view, financial forecasting and reserves planning has improved during the pandemic.
‘What has been really good is the interplay between budget setting, reserves policies and cashflow forecasting. However, there is a massive nervousness that when support such as furlough grants and other COVID emergency funding stops, we’ll be in a recession like we have not seen in a long, long time, if ever. It is undoubtedly going to be a tough few years.’
Jill Halford, Head of Charities, BDO
Jill’s CV includes over 20 years’ experience advising charities. She is an external audit partner at BDO, specialising in audit and advisory work (especially governance reviews), an ICAEW charities committee member, member of the Charity Finance Group (CFG), an experienced tutor, and she runs training courses for charity finance professionals including Civil Society and CFG.
As in previous events, this session will have an interactive element where you will be able to ask questions and participate in a general discussion.
We also plan to present a shorter session looking at the need to be very careful in reassessing costing models in the wake of the pandemic financial impact. I think we can all expect ‘statutory’ funding (from LAs, CCGs, NHS, etc.) to be in much shorter supply, not only in this current financial year but most probably in the next few years, and commissioners are going to be setting very tight parameters for funding service provision. Funds on offer are likely be set at the bare minimum, so it is vital that before submitting tenders, Partners have satisfied themselves that the price they are offering is sufficient to achieve full cost recovery and where it is not, that they have sufficient reserves or surplus income, to subsidise shortfalls. Accepting a shortfall position for a year might be acceptable but locking the organisation into a shortfall for two or three years could be untenable.
Again, we will welcome questions and participation in the discussion.
The Webinar will be via Microsoft Teams and the link to register will be circulated nearer the time. For now, please reserve this date and time in your calendars, and please share this information with anyone in your organisation who would like to attend, including trustees.
