Chapter 5

Receipts and Payments Accounting Example

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 December 2016

The Parochial Church Council of St Emillion's Church, Barchester

Table of contents     Page Number

Trustees Report      48

Independent Examiner's Report         48

Receipts and Payments Account        53

Statement of Assets and Liabilities     54

Notes to the Financial Statements      54

 

Example Trustees' Annual Report (Accruals accounting)

2016 Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of St Emillion's Church, Barchester

Aims and purposes

St Emillion's Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Reverend Samuel Weller, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of the Church Centre complex of St Emillion's, The Green, Barchester.

Objectives and Activities

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community at St Emillion's. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the many groups that live within our parish. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and Scripture, music and sacrament.

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion.

In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:

•    Worship and prayer; learning about the gospel; developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus.

•    Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish

•    Missionary and outreach work.

To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of the church of St Emillion and the Church Centre complex.

Achievements and performance

Worship and prayer

The PCC is keen to offer a range of services during the week and over the course of the year that our community find both beneficial and spiritually fulfilling. For example, evening prayers provide a quiet, intimate and reflective environment for worship, while opportunities are provided for people to engage in more outgoing worship such as that provided by the youth group within our parish.

This year we have been successful in welcoming more families into our church and have agreed a new style of Family Worship on the morning of the third Sunday each month. This has meant that special arrangements have had to be made for baptisms and for welcoming the families at corporate worship on the 1st Sunday of each month. It is pleasing to be able to report that the new arrangements have been well received since they came into operation during September. They will be reviewed by the PCC after 12 months. In addition, a great deal of time and thought was spent during the year on making best use of the new services. Many have said how much easier it is to follow the services now that they are printed out in booklets.

All are welcome to attend our regular services. At present there are 173 parishioners on the church electoral roll, 91 of whom are not resident within the parish. Eighteen names were added during the year and nine were removed either through death or because they moved away from the parish. The average weekly attendance, counted during October, was 107, but this number increased at festivals, and two Christmas carol services had to be held to seat all those who wished to attend.

As well as our regular services, we enable our community to celebrate and thank God at the milestones of the journey through life. Through baptism we thank God for the gift of life; in marriage, public vows are exchanged with God's blessing; through funeral services friends and family express their grief and give thanks for the life that is now complete in this world, and commend the person into God's keeping.

Deanery Synod

Three members of the PCC sit on the Deanery Synod. This provides the PCC with an important link between the parish and the wider structures of the Church. This year the PCC has also focused its attention on the questions posed to parishes in the deanery about the most effective deployment of stipendiary and non-stipendiary clergy.

The Church Centre complex

We want our church to be open to our community for private prayer. Unfortunately, since the theft of valuable church artefacts from St Augustus' Church, in the neighbouring parish, we have felt unable to leave the church open at all times for private worship. We are, however, pleased that a rota of parishioners has enabled us to open the church at weekends and for all public holidays in the past year.

The state of the nave roof has been causing concern for some time. After many years, during which routine maintenance has been carried out, a detailed report on its condition will be prepared by the architect at the next routine inspection in April 2017. We have already anticipated the need for major structural renewal, and it is our policy to make provisions from general income in the hope that an urgent appeal can be avoided.

The kitchen in the church hall was refurbished during August and the new environment meets the stringent health and safety requirements and allows us to continue the old people's luncheon club on Saturdays. Eighteen people regularly attend at our luncheon club, twelve of whom are parishioners. We were particularly pleased to be able to extend the services of our club to the members of the Barchester Green Methodist Chapel luncheon club when the death of Alice Luther, the main organiser of that club, forced its closure.

During the week the hall is used by our mothers and toddlers group on Wednesdays. Fifteen children and their carers have been regular attenders at the group. During the summer the group organised two outings including older siblings during the school holidays. In July, 20 children and their parents went for the day to Longleat and later in the holidays we had the hottest day of the year for our family outing to New Milton.

The crèche runs in the hall on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. There are 12 regular attenders at the crèche, which is organised by Sally Pincent, the council's peripatetic childcare co-ordinator who runs crèches at our church as well as at St Augustus' on Mondays and Wednesdays. She has a rota of volunteers from the parish who help her, all of whom have been CRB checked. The crèche had an OFSTED inspection during the year and passed with flying colours.

Pastoral care

Some members of our parish are unable to attend church due to sickness or age. Reverend Samuel Weller has visited all church members who have requested it, to celebrate communion with them either at their homes or in hospital. Miss Finching has continued to organise a rota of volunteers to visit all who are sick or unable to get out for any other reason, to keep them in touch with church life.

Mission and evangelism

Helping those in need is a demonstration of our faith. The Mission and Evangelism Committee is to be congratulated on its fundraising efforts. £1,350 was raised for the Southern Africa Famine appeal. It is good that these efforts on behalf of others can be combined with opportunities for fellowship.

Our parish magazine is distributed quarterly to all parishioners on the church electoral roll and is available at the church hall. The magazine keeps our parishioners informed of the important matters affecting our church and articles that help develop our knowledge and trust in Jesus.

Ecumenical relationships

The church is a member of Churches Together in Barchester and of the Salisbury Interfaith Forum. We have held joint services on the fourth Sunday of every month with the Barchester Green Methodist Church, and for the first time this year have joined with them both for our Lent courses and to run an Alpha course in the autumn. The Alpha course has led a number of people to attend other church activities and services. We have also worked with Barchester Green Methodist Church and Millfield Baptist Church to deliver a flyer to every home in the town advertising the Christmas services of all three churches.

Financial review

Total receipts on unrestricted funds were £64,200, of which £42,000 was unrestricted voluntary donations, and a further £8,700 was from Gift Aid. Restricted donations of £5,800 were also received and are detailed in the financial statements. The freehold house at 36 Church Street continues to be let temporarily, which provided a gross income of £3,700.

The planned giving through envelopes and banker's orders increased by 8% and it was good to see that the use of Gift Aid envelopes increased. Total income, including tax recovered but excluding the legacy, went up by only 3% compared with last year. This was partly due to the Christmas Bazaar not being held this year. We were grateful for a pecuniary legacy of £1,000 from the estate of Mrs Mary Rudge. £2,000 was set aside towards the cost of the much needed cleaning of the organ. The work was completed in time for Christmas.

£61,350 was spent from unrestricted funds to provide the Christian ministry from St Emillion's Church, including the contribution to the diocesan parish share that increased by 12% in the year and largely provides the stipends and housing for the clergy.

The sum that the churches in the deanery have to find is shared between the churches according to a formula that is based mainly on a head count of the congregations. We have to find more of the sum at St Emillion's, as the size of our congregation increased more compared with other churches.

The net result for the year was an excess of receipts over payments of £2,750 on unrestricted funds. Adding bank and deposit balances brought forward at the beginning of the year, the balances carried forward at 31 December on unrestricted funds totalled £10,350, of which £5,300 has been set aside to meet the costs of cleaning and maintaining the church organ and is carried forward as a designated fund.

Reserves policy

It is PCC policy to try to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds that equates to at least three months' unrestricted payments. This is equivalent to £15,000. It is held to smoothe out fluctuations in cash flow and to meet emergencies. The cash balance of £10,350 held on unrestricted (including designated) funds at the year end, together with the amounts payable to and by the PCC, was less than half of this target. It is the PCC's hope to increase this over time, as and when investment income recovers.

The balance of £17,050 in the fabric restricted fund is retained towards meeting the cost of the nave roof repairs detailed above. It is our policy to invest £5,000 of our fund balances with the CCLA Church of England Deposit Fund, and the remainder in the CCLA Church of England Investment Fund.

Optional information

Volunteers

We would like to thank all the volunteers who work so hard to make our church the lively and vibrant community it is. In particular, we want to mention our churchwardens Mrs Allen and Mr Tapley, who have worked so tirelessly on our behalf, and Mrs Neckett, who has helped us all to understand the church's accounts and its finances.

Structure, governance and management

The Parochial Church Council is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure.

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St Emillion's the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (our vicar), churchwardens, the reader and members elected by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church.

The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish, including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. New members receive initial training into the workings of the PCC.

The full PCC met six times during the year with an average level of attendance of 80%. Given its wide responsibilities the PCC has a number of committees each dealing with a particular aspect of parish life.

These committees, which include worship, mission and outreach and fabric and finance, are all responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly, minutes of their decisions being received by the full PCC and discussed as necessary.

Administrative information

St Emillion's Church is situated in The Green, Barchester. It is part of the Diocese of Salisbury within the Church of England. The correspondence address is The Vicarage, Church Street, Barchester. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2011) and a charity currently excepted from registration with the Charity Commission.

PCC members who have served at any time from 1 January 2016 until the date this report was approved are:

Ex officiomembers:

•    Incumbent: The Reverend Samuel Weller (chair)

•    Reader: Mr Robert Sawyer

•    Warden: Mrs Arabella Allen

•    Warden: Mr Mark Tapley

Elected members:

•    Mr Frederick Trent, representative on Deanery Synod

•    Mr Peter Magnus Secretary, representative on Deanery Synod

•    Mr John Fielding, representative on Deanery Synod

•    Miss Flora Finching (from 5 April 2016)

•    Mrs Charlotte Neckett, treasurer

•    Mr George Radfoot

•    Miss Edith Granger

•    Mrs Tilly Slowboy (vice-chair)

•    Miss Emily Wardle (until 5 April 2016)

•    Mr Mark Walker

•    Miss Emma Haredale

•    Mr Julius Handford (until 5 April 2016)

•    Miss Elizabeth Hexham

•    Mr Ralph Nickleby (from 5 April 2016)

Approved by the PCC on 8 March 2017 and signed on their behalf by the Reverend Samuel Weller (PCC chairman)

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of St Emilion's Parochial Church Council

I report on the accounts of the church for the year ended 31 December 2016 which are set out on pages xx to xx.

Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner

The church's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The church's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

•    Examine the accounts (under section 145 of the 2011 Act);

•    To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and

•    To state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of Independent Examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

1.  which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements

•    to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and

•    to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or

2.  to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

(Name) (Date)

(Relevant professional qualification or body)

(Address)

 

The transfer to the organ fund was from ordinary unrestricted funds to meet the balance of the cleaning/tuning costs.

The fabric fund represents accumulated donations and appeals for fabric maintenance, which can only be spent for that purpose.

The Southern Africa Famine appeal represents funds raised by the Mission and Evangelism Committee to relieve poverty and hardship in the recent famine in Southern Africa.

The flower fund represents a donation from a parishioner to be spent on Easter lilies in memory of her recently deceased mother.

The cost of the flowers is included in costs of services. A further £100 was designated from the general fund to meet the full cost of lilies.