Normal business practice is for the Board to draw up a budget and run that budget throughout the year, reporting back to the members at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). By then fully audited accounts are available.
This year, your Board intends to follow that process but with more rigidity than in previous years. Our new auditors, APL Financial Pty Ltd, will conduct the audit at 31 March 2024 and prepare a report. That report will be tabled at the AGM, and an auditor will be present to answer any questions from members.
With that in mind, the accompanying notes on our financial position are by way of a general update some six months after we took up our new Lease on the premises.
I have attached a Balance Sheet comparison for the period 15 September 2023 to 29 February 2024.
At a quick glance it shows that the Club has traded positively from a cashflow perspective and has built equity over the period. However, one must bear in mind that the Receivers dealt with us generously in allowing us to purchase back all our previous stock and assets, and this allowed us to show early profits through the bar where previously held stock was able to be sold from a low-cost base. Bar profits appear very good, and while they are satisfactory, other items are still being reflected as bar sales and thus inflating profits slightly.
After 31 March, Hampton Bayside Bowls Club with be registered for GST and this will need to be built in to all sales and invoices. It is also intended to link the POS system at the bar direct to our Xero accounting package so that we can better track and identify profit to cost of goods sold and categorise income more accurately.
Like all bowling clubs, bowls in itself does not pay for the costs of maintaining the greens and conducting all aspects of the game at a club like ours. The successful operation of the bar and other fundraising activities is essential to ensure sufficient income is generated annually for operations, repair and maintenance, and member services. We therefore encourage all members to actively support Club activities.
Members should note we still hold pre-purchased memberships of $139,600 which we will begin to “draw down” on 1 April 2024 when 2024/2025 memberships are due. The majority of these funds were from bowling members, and will be amortised over three, five and ten years.
The Board is endeavouring to maintain a sinking fund of approximately $100,000 at this early stage of the new Club’s development, and separately generate sufficient annual income to run the Club and undertake projects and upgrades that will be identified in the strategic plan. At this stage we do not have a definitive figure for the annual running costs as our new club model without gaming, TAB and Keno is only six months old, but we estimate around $200,000 based on looking at like Clubs in the Sandbelt region, and experienced guesstimates of expenses and income. Because of the community nature of our Club, we do already employ more paid staff involved in the running than other clubs.
Significant income drivers thus far have been bowls’ greens fees, Merchants Cup, and Music on the Deck each fortnight. Also, the arrival at the Club of the Bayside Bridge Club is seeing growth in memberships and revenue, including over the bar. More varied activities are being introduced on Friday nights to encourage greater use of the club across all membership groups.
The Club will be in a better position, after a full year’s operations in September 2024, to refine budgets and commit to new initiatives but will be looking at extending hours where patronage demands it, providing food options, and improving our clubhouse and bowls facilities as revenues grow more accurately.
We will soon enter the autumn and winter periods which have traditionally been loss making months for the Club, but we are hopeful that with new initiatives this can be a more positive year. Your support of your club is important for our ongoing success.
We should all be proud of where we are now. The take-up of advanced memberships by almost 50% of members last August, the commitment of our volunteers to clean, support functions and run the bar, and the quick uptake of our bar to start generating profits for future activities have all been significant in stabilising our Club so early. There is still much to be done as we rebuild Bayside’s largest bowls and community club, but with careful planning and strong member support we are on the right track.