Treasurer’s Report
The financial status of our society is typically being discussed during the General Assembly. Given that no General Assembly was held this year, we have not been able to share the financial situation of the ESB with you. It is our pleasure to do so in this Newsletter.
In 2019 the total assets of the Society grew by 31’700 €, up to 210’500 €. As anticipated, the net income in 2019 was substantially larger than the net loss (-5’700 €) experienced in 2018. When zooming in on the different sources of income, we can see that the income of the society can be attributed to the transfer of flat fees from the annual meeting held in Vienna (+33’900 €), the individual membership fees (+14’700 €), corporate membership fees (+4’800 €) and Award sponsorship (+4’500 €). The latter included the sponsorship of the 2018 awards.
The numerous awards of our society stand for the major expenses (-20’000 €). Other main expense items are the hosting and the maintenance of our website (-3’100 €), council-related costs (-900 €) and bank and Paypal charges (-600 €).
The financial report for 2019 has been approved by the Financial Auditors, Monique Donkerwolcke and Paulo Fernandes. The Treasurer wishes to thank the Auditors for their commitment, careful evaluation and advice!
The membership status has been updated for all those ESB members who attended the Congress in Vienna in 2019, and for those who have been approved as member since then. As announced by the Membership Committee in our latest Spring Newsletter, the council decided that members in good standing will have their membership exceptionally extended until the end of next year! From a financial point of view, this is certainly acceptable. The total assets of the ESB are nearly five times the average yearly income (44’000 €) generated in 2018 and 2019, and even nearly seven times the average yearly expenses (31’000 €) paid in 2018 and 2019. Hence, the ESB is in good financial health, which has allowed to set up an extraordinary call for the Mobility Award (see the Student Membership section of the present Newsletter), to compensate the possible reticence that some of our Members might have had about competing in the regular call during the lockdown earlier this year. The ESB can continue spending money in similar amounts as in previous years even if due to covid-19 no income would be received. Obviously, should the covid pandemic last for several years, our financial situation would have to be re-evaluated.
Jérôme Noailly and Harry van Lenthe
