BCGBA Accounts analysed

Bowling News

Steve Davies who runs the Bowls Observer website has done a study of the BCGBA 2025 Accounts and has produced a report on them. You can read it in it's entirity below with a copy of the full accounts at the foot of this posting.

At the BCGBA Annual General Meeting in January, the association's accounts were accepted by all those present.

I will review them in the same way as Graeme Underhill (BCGBA Financial Officer) did on the day. I am including the accounts as a separate document and when (or if) you go through them and figures in brackets are a deficit (or a loss but this is technical term in the Finance world, so the term deficit). So, if you scroll down, you will find the link for the BCGBA accounts and the BCGBA National Development strategy which is mentioned in this article.

Before I get started on that, Graeme reported that the phrase “New Website” that appears in the Accounts needs clarification. The new Independent Board members have pointed out that most of the costs incurred related to the new website is for the building of the database that will sit underneath it. This will replace Go-Membership.

The Reporting Accountants have been heavily involved in deciding on the accounting treatment of the Database. It is unusual them to intervene but, on this occasion, they felt that a more commercial approach was needed. In common with, like many of their other clients, they have decided to place this asset on the Balance Sheet and depreciate it over its expected useful life of 10 years. So, the “New Website Amortisation” is shown per year (for the next 10 years), and this is mostly for the new Database which will replace “Go-membership”.

It is, of course, hoped that the BCGBA will get significantly more use out of the database and do not need to spend this level of money in the near future.

General Account

This account shows the general income and expenditure of the association. This includes the fees paid by clubs, sponsorship, handbooks, officers’ salaries, and remuneration as well as the ‘general’ costs.

Overall, the Income is down by £957 when compared to the 2024 figures. Of course, like every year, the numbers are made up of positives and negatives. Club Fees have decreased as, sadly, there continues to be closures and mergers of clubs and greens. Leagues & Associations Fees have also decreased but these were exceptionally high last year as the 2024 figure included late collections from 2023.

Safeguarding Income is up by 76%, this is due to 2025 being a big year for the renewal of the DBS certificates. The BCGBA also managed to secure added sponsorship income from two of their Partners, namely Easyfundraising and Bowls Buddies.

The Expenditure has increased by £1,575 and again, there are positives and negatives.

Officers’ Salaries have increased in line with Minimum wage legislation and for contractual reasons, the BCGBA had two CEOs for a 9-week period, so this explains the added cost shown.

The National Administrator was in post for the whole 12 months so, again, this explains this figure being different from the partial year included in last year’s accounts. Funds generated from Insurances were a dramatically reduced figure. The BCGBA had a longstanding relationship with Endsleigh Insurance, but they have recently completed a merger with Howden’s Insurance, and they have used a different calculation method. We can expect the BCGBA to be in discussions with them about this.

Expenditure on Meetings has decreased by £5,104 as the BCGBA continues to hold as many Zoom meetings as possible. Although several Board meetings were held face-to-face, many participants chose to withhold their mileage claims. The costs associated with the National Advisory Council are picked up by the individual Counties.

Competitions account – Men

The Competition committee was charged by the independent board to reduce the deficit on both the Men’s (and Ladies) account. They have worked extremely hard on the financial structure, and we must thank Yvette Gregory and her team for the time and energy put into this work. The deficit has halved in 2025 and over £18,500 has been shaved off in three years.

Income is up by £8,760 with the highlight being the Senior Merit held in South Yorkshire. Lesley Allen, 2025 BCGBA President, must be praised for the effort put into this outstanding event. The attendance was particularly good, and we know that host club had a particularly busy day. Steve Clamp must also be thanked for the excellent work done on the heavily sponsored programme, which was appreciated by all.

The Champion of Champions was also an excellent event and, again, Steve’s work on the programme was very welcome. Player sponsorships were organised by Yvette and Steve and, again, these were appreciated. Sadly, some of these have not been easy to collect, and work is ongoing to persuade the stragglers to pay up.

Once again, the Mixed Pairs was generously sponsored by John and Pat Crowther.

Expenditure increased by £5,071 and there are very few significant movements in this area with the exception being the Champion of Champions.

In advance of the event, the Competition Committee produced an analysis of the projected income and, as a result, prize monies were increased. We gather this was appreciated by the players.

Competitions account – Ladies

Since the work to provide an equal standing for male and female players the account has shown a deficit (£4,623 last year) and this was reduced by £817 and although this is a small amount, it is still a reduction, and it is going in the right direction. Income was up by £1,608, Expenditure increased by £791.

John and Pat Crowther very kindly sponsored the Ladies Senior Individual Merit and without them the reduction in the deficit would not have occurred. As already mentioned, the Champion of Champions weekend was a massive success and increased interest in the Ladies event followed a similar pattern to the Men’s event.

Brian Renton, Competitions Logistics manager, was again thanked for his work, particularly whilst Yvette was unwell in the Spring of 2025. Since Brian quite often works on both Men’s and Ladies events in the same day it is difficult to split his expenses accurately into the respective accounts.

The Competitions Committee have been provided with a detailed analysis of the whole Competitions structure, and no doubt further decisions will be made to get as close as possible to the elusive break-even position.

Development account

Overall, year on year the surplus has increased by £4,114.

Surprisingly, Income from Registrations has reduced by £6000 this year.

Expenditure has decreased significantly although some costs now form part of National Development Strategy. One-off costs for Heaton Park and the storage facility built at Owley Wood have not been repeated.

There has been a reduction in the number of development projects completed by our Clubs in 2025, but there is currently over £5,900 already committed for 2026 and we predict that much of this money will used this coming year.

The physical monies paid to the Bowls Development Alliance (BDA) has not changed, still being at £7,500 but due to a change in the way the BDA invoices, the value in the accounts has reduced.

Specifically relating to the National Development Strategy, the income from player fees is self-explanatory following the introduction of the individual player fee last year.

However, and not surprisingly, the £1 player fee have not been universally liked, and several Counties have had difficulties in collecting from Clubs. Indeed, Graeme informed us that collections continue to come in as we speak. Hopefully, the expenditure will be equally self-explanatory.

The County Development Grants are £2,000 per contributor and include monies previously costed to County Development Officers and Junior Grants. Payment of this money is dependent upon the work done in 2025 and plans made for 2026. Jayne McKay, the National Development Officer, oversees this money and no funds are released until she is happy with the work done. Those of you who have read her detailed report will know that these monies are ring-fenced in a separate bank account. The report is included at the end of this.

Annual Summary

At this point, Graeme reminded everyone that the Trustees Funds are not under the direct control of BCGBA and that, where necessary, requests are made to the Trustees for funding and that these monies are only released for the Development of the Association.

The increase in the value of the investments over the last 2 years totals £50,160 so, having spent £50,000 on the database and website, the Trustees are effectively back in the position they were in on 15th November 2023, but there will be an excellent database and website to show for it upon completion. The Trustees believe that this is an excellent use of these funds.

The note at the bottom of the page reflects the breakdown of the surplus mentioned at the outset.

General fund

The General Fund stays in a stable position with healthy bank and cash balances. The total Net assets has increased by just over £13,000. In addition, there is a Database and Website asset that has on paper, 9 years of useful life carried forward.

In conclusion

There is still work to be done to get more external funding / sponsorship into the association. Without the income from Howdens and Pat and John Crowther the surplus for the year may not be a surplus at all. Though this is expected to improve with the launch of the new website in the coming months.

Graeme answered questions on the above both before and during the meeting. Overall, the accounts stay in strong and healthy position, and this is to Graeme’s credit for all the work he has done in the role. If you want to know more, please contact Graeme, his email address is finance@bcgba.org.uk and his role at the BCGBA is only part-time, his primary working day for the BCGBA is a Friday.

As mentioned above, the BCGBA accounts are below. Thanks for getting this far!

At the BCGBA Annual General Meeting in January, the association's accounts were accepted by all those present.

I will review them in the same way as Graeme Underhill (BCGBA Financial Officer) did on the day. I am including the accounts as a separate document and when (or if) you go through them and figures in brackets are a deficit (or a loss but this is technical term in the Finance world, so the term deficit). So, if you scroll down, you will find the link for the BCGBA accounts and the BCGBA National Development strategy which is mentioned in this article.

Before I get started on that, Graeme reported that the phrase “New Website” that appears in the Accounts needs clarification. The new Independent Board members have pointed out that most of the costs incurred related to the new website is for the building of the database that will sit underneath it. This will replace Go-Membership.

The Reporting Accountants have been heavily involved in deciding on the accounting treatment of the Database. It is unusual them to intervene but, on this occasion, they felt that a more commercial approach was needed. In common with, like many of their other clients, they have decided to place this asset on the Balance Sheet and depreciate it over its expected useful life of 10 years. So, the “New Website Amortisation” is shown per year (for the next 10 years), and this is mostly for the new Database which will replace “Go-membership”.

It is, of course, hoped that the BCGBA will get significantly more use out of the database and do not need to spend this level of money in the near future.

General Account

This account shows the general income and expenditure of the association. This includes the fees paid by clubs, sponsorship, handbooks, officers’ salaries, and remuneration as well as the ‘general’ costs.

Overall, the Income is down by £957 when compared to the 2024 figures. Of course, like every year, the numbers are made up of positives and negatives. Club Fees have decreased as, sadly, there continues to be closures and mergers of clubs and greens. Leagues & Associations Fees have also decreased but these were exceptionally high last year as the 2024 figure included late collections from 2023.

Safeguarding Income is up by 76%, this is due to 2025 being a big year for the renewal of the DBS certificates. The BCGBA also managed to secure added sponsorship income from two of their Partners, namely Easyfundraising and Bowls Buddies.

The Expenditure has increased by £1,575 and again, there are positives and negatives.

Officers’ Salaries have increased in line with Minimum wage legislation and for contractual reasons, the BCGBA had two CEOs for a 9-week period, so this explains the added cost shown.

The National Administrator was in post for the whole 12 months so, again, this explains this figure being different from the partial year included in last year’s accounts. Funds generated from Insurances were a dramatically reduced figure. The BCGBA had a longstanding relationship with Endsleigh Insurance, but they have recently completed a merger with Howden’s Insurance, and they have used a different calculation method. We can expect the BCGBA to be in discussions with them about this.

Expenditure on Meetings has decreased by £5,104 as the BCGBA continues to hold as many Zoom meetings as possible. Although several Board meetings were held face-to-face, many participants chose to withhold their mileage claims. The costs associated with the National Advisory Council are picked up by the individual Counties.

Competitions account – Men

The Competition committee was charged by the independent board to reduce the deficit on both the Men’s (and Ladies) account. They have worked extremely hard on the financial structure, and we must thank Yvette Gregory and her team for the time and energy put into this work. The deficit has halved in 2025 and over £18,500 has been shaved off in three years.

Income is up by £8,760 with the highlight being the Senior Merit held in South Yorkshire. Lesley Allen, 2025 BCGBA President, must be praised for the effort put into this outstanding event. The attendance was particularly good, and we know that host club had a particularly busy day. Steve Clamp must also be thanked for the excellent work done on the heavily sponsored programme, which was appreciated by all.

The Champion of Champions was also an excellent event and, again, Steve’s work on the programme was very welcome. Player sponsorships were organised by Yvette and Steve and, again, these were appreciated. Sadly, some of these have not been easy to collect, and work is ongoing to persuade the stragglers to pay up.

Once again, the Mixed Pairs was generously sponsored by John and Pat Crowther.

Expenditure increased by £5,071 and there are very few significant movements in this area with the exception being the Champion of Champions.

In advance of the event, the Competition Committee produced an analysis of the projected income and, as a result, prize monies were increased. We gather this was appreciated by the players.

Competitions account – Ladies

Since the work to provide an equal standing for male and female players the account has shown a deficit (£4,623 last year) and this was reduced by £817 and although this is a small amount, it is still a reduction, and it is going in the right direction. Income was up by £1,608, Expenditure increased by £791.

John and Pat Crowther very kindly sponsored the Ladies Senior Individual Merit and without them the reduction in the deficit would not have occurred. As already mentioned, the Champion of Champions weekend was a massive success and increased interest in the Ladies event followed a similar pattern to the Men’s event.

Brian Renton, Competitions Logistics manager, was again thanked for his work, particularly whilst Yvette was unwell in the Spring of 2025. Since Brian quite often works on both Men’s and Ladies events in the same day it is difficult to split his expenses accurately into the respective accounts.

The Competitions Committee have been provided with a detailed analysis of the whole Competitions structure, and no doubt further decisions will be made to get as close as possible to the elusive break-even position.

Development account

Overall, year on year the surplus has increased by £4,114.

Surprisingly, Income from Registrations has reduced by £6000 this year.

Expenditure has decreased significantly although some costs now form part of National Development Strategy. One-off costs for Heaton Park and the storage facility built at Owley Wood have not been repeated.

There has been a reduction in the number of development projects completed by our Clubs in 2025, but there is currently over £5,900 already committed for 2026 and we predict that much of this money will used this coming year.

The physical monies paid to the Bowls Development Alliance (BDA) has not changed, still being at £7,500 but due to a change in the way the BDA invoices, the value in the accounts has reduced.

Specifically relating to the National Development Strategy, the income from player fees is self-explanatory following the introduction of the individual player fee last year.

However, and not surprisingly, the £1 player fee have not been universally liked, and several Counties have had difficulties in collecting from Clubs. Indeed, Graeme informed us that collections continue to come in as we speak. Hopefully, the expenditure will be equally self-explanatory.

The County Development Grants are £2,000 per contributor and include monies previously costed to County Development Officers and Junior Grants. Payment of this money is dependent upon the work done in 2025 and plans made for 2026. Jayne McKay, the National Development Officer, oversees this money and no funds are released until she is happy with the work done. Those of you who have read her detailed report will know that these monies are ring-fenced in a separate bank account. The report is included at the end of this.

Annual Summary

At this point, Graeme reminded everyone that the Trustees Funds are not under the direct control of BCGBA and that, where necessary, requests are made to the Trustees for funding and that these monies are only released for the Development of the Association.

The increase in the value of the investments over the last 2 years totals £50,160 so, having spent £50,000 on the database and website, the Trustees are effectively back in the position they were in on 15th November 2023, but there will be an excellent database and website to show for it upon completion. The Trustees believe that this is an excellent use of these funds.

The note at the bottom of the page reflects the breakdown of the surplus mentioned at the outset.

General fund

The General Fund stays in a stable position with healthy bank and cash balances. The total Net assets has increased by just over £13,000. In addition, there is a Database and Website asset that has on paper, 9 years of useful life carried forward.

In conclusion

There is still work to be done to get more external funding / sponsorship into the association. Without the income from Howdens and Pat and John Crowther the surplus for the year may not be a surplus at all. Though this is expected to improve with the launch of the new website in the coming months.

Graeme answered questions on the above both before and during the meeting. Overall, the accounts stay in strong and healthy position, and this is to Graeme’s credit for all the work he has done in the role. If you want to know more, please contact Graeme, his email address is finance@bcgba.org.uk and his role at the BCGBA is only part-time, his primary working day for the BCGBA is a Friday.

As mentioned above, the BCGBA accounts are below. Thanks for getting this far!

BCGBA-accounts-2025.pdf

Download PDF • 270KB