HKVCA

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TREASURER’S REPORT

AUGUST, 2011, GRANBY, QC

Good Afternoon Everyone:

            My name is Barry Mitchell and I am the Treasurer for the National

HKVCA as well as the Manitoba HKVCA. I am the son of WG Lieut. Vaughan

Mitchell and nephew of WG Lieut. Eric Mitchell, both from Winnipeg and

both  buried in Sai Wan Bay Military Cemetery.

            I have available copies of the audited financial statements for the

Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association for the year ending

December 31, 2010. I would like to read some of those numbers into the

records and offer a few comments along the way. Hope you can stay

awake.

            The Commemorative Association operates with 2 bank accounts, a

General Account and a Book Account.

            Each month I prepare a statement for the national executive which

shows the status of each account---where the money came from and where

the money went---plus a consolidated summary of those accounts to

complete a monthly snapshot of our financial position.

            The audited statement I referred to is prepared each year by the

Winnipeg accounting firm of Heisinger & Montgomery, and they do so for a

very small fee which I doubt covers their expenses. I truly appreciate the

service provided by Jim Montgomery as I value the opportunity to have our

books examined from the outside.

I am going to mention a few items in the audited statement for your

clarification. I should point out that the drive for funds for our Memorial Wall has been underway for over 3 years and the donations received have had a significant impact on how our financial statements appear. This drive for funds has truly been remarkable. Our first quote to build a wall was $60,000, but once we found out how to properly build a national monument, costs escalated considerably and when all is said and done, we will likely have spent in the neighbourhood of $450,000 to see this beautiful memorial finished.

            I must say, that while it was a lot of work, I am truly amazed and gratified in the way you folks and the public in general, responded in our quest for donations. Over 1,100 individuals sent us a donation with a handful of corporations and government departments playing their role as well. I extend my sincere thanks to all those who helped us bring this dream into reality.

            However, this is not a report on the Memorial Wall but a statement on

the whole operation of the Commemorative Association. The Memorial Wall

certainly influences the appearance of the financial statement but will be

 reported on separately.

            First, on the Balance Sheet:

• Under Current Assets, we have the two bank accounts with the

General Account and Book Account now starting to reflect closer to

           our normal levels of activity with the Memorial Wall project starting 

           to wind up  But it also represents the dues collected each year

from members across Canada. On December 31, 2010, we had

$36,531 in the General Account and $6,038 in the Book Account.

• Next we show $4,890 in Inventory which is primarily books that we

have for sale but also includes videos, crests and grave markers. At

the end of the year we had over 300 books in inventory.

• So, for the end of the year 2010, we show Current Assets of $52,459

which is a sizeable decrease over the $173,779 in 2009. This

decrease can be attributed to the winding up of the Memorial Wall    project.

· We have almost no Current Liabilities as we almost always pay cash

     for all our expenditures.

• Over on the Statement of Income, again our numbers are still a little distorted by the income from the donations to the Wall but it shows that our revenue, outside of that special project, is derived primarily from the collection of dues, which held steady at $4,580, a slight increase over 2009. We also realized a small amount of revenue from the sale of books, videos, lapel pins, crests and grave markers.

• Under Expenses, the single major item is our newsletter which we

publish 4 times a year. This is a significant aspect of our

communications as we have one national newsletter whereas previously we had various Regional newsletters. Each Region

supplies the Editor with news and information and we are able to

print and mail about 1,000 copies to our members four times a year

at a total cost of just over $2,600. A growing number of our members now receive the newsletter online and that saves us considerably in both printing costs and postage.

• Once again, the Income Statement is somewhat inflated as it still reflects about $50,000 in donations to the Wall. For the year ended December 31, 2010, Income was $60,956 and Expenses were $155,512. Almost all this activity was related to the Memorial Wall and this will diminish throughout this current year. The overall financial health of the HKVCA will be better reflected in the annual statement for 2011.

            In summary, the Commemorative Association has had a good year

financially from the standpoint that we have been able to meet all our

obligations and pay our bills in a timely fashion. I am referring here to all

our activity outside of the Memorial Wall project which as I said  will be

reported on separately. We submit a report to the Canada Revenue Agency

each year as a Registered Charity and each year we have met our

expenditure requirements.

            Mr. Secretary, I present to you the December 31, 2010 audited

statement for the HKVCA, to be entered into the Minutes of the Annual

General Meeting.

            Barry C. Mitchell

National Treasurer

HKVCA—Convention Notes—HKVCA –Granby, 2011