What Rugby First’s accounts don’t tell us
Rugby First Ltd have published their accounts for the period up to the end of October 2013. Their accounts have received a clean audit certificate from their independent auditors. The accounts list the company's nineteen directors who appear to be made up of an employee, three conservative councillors and fifteen local business people.
The financial statements do not allocate the company's costs over the different activities Rugby First is engaged in such as the town centre rangers and CCTV.
The accounts show that last year Rugby First's income fell by £27,000 to £1,114,000 whilst expenditure rose by £66,000 to £1,135,000. As a result Rugby First made a loss of £17,000 in its last reported year. The directors' report does not say whether they have any plans to stop the losses in future years.
The accounts suggest that one of the reasons why the company made a loss was that it massively increased its expenditure on marketing. Marketing costs almost doubled from £62,000 to £136,000. The directors' report is silent on why they decided to increase marketing costs by so much and what they believe this has achieved.
Rugby First states it operates the Warwickshire County Council pension scheme. It also says that it is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme. We can compare Rugby First's accounts with those of Warwickshire College. Warwickshire College too operates the Warwickshire County Council pension scheme but in the college's case it does disclose its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme. Rugby Firsts' accounts do not state why Rugby First is unable to do what Warwickshire College have done.
In 2011-12 the company spent £25,000 on directors' pension contributions. These too almost doubled to £45,000 in 2012-13. This suggests that the company was making pension contributions at the rate of 49% of salary in respect of its directors. The reason for this increase is not disclosed in the directors' report. The company's accounts do not disclose any pension contributions made in respect of the company's "operational" staff. Are the town rangers able to take part in their company's pension scheme?
Another mystery surrounds Rugby Town Centre Ltd. Rugby First's accounts states that some of its directors are also directors of Rugby Town Centre Ltd - but it does not name the directors who have joint directorships. Rugby Town Centre Ltd shares the same registered office address as Rugby First and according to Companies H
ouse they also appear to have the same company secretary. Companies House shows that Rugby Town Centre Ltd was once known as Rugby First !!! The earlier Rugby First has lent the later Rugby First £107,000 on which it does not charge any interest. The relationship between the two companies is not shown in Rugby First's financial statements. Does one company in effect control the other?
Rugby First run Rugby's business improvement district or BID scheme - see http://rugbylibdems.org.uk/en/article/2014/952832/would-you-bid-twice-the-price-for-a-two-legged-stool .