Treasurer’s Report

Abstract

Treasurer’s Report Thomas Kalk, Treasurer IAML’s financial situation has improved in the year 2016. The final deficit of the year was reduced from €35,000 in 2015 to €12,000 in 2016. As such, we are well on the road to financial consolidation. In order to continue this process of consolidation, I proposed to the General Assembly to raise the 2018 membership dues to €72 for institutions and €43 for individuals, and to keep these amounts at the same level in 2019. Income was 8 percent above the estimated budget; but unfortunately this was not due to rising membership numbers. Income from membership dues from the national branches, which is estimated on membership numbers remaining the same from year to year, was below budget, which indicates declining numbers. Income from advertisements in Fontes is well above the estimate. The reason is that our new Fontes Advertising Manager, Stephanie Bonjack, has brought invoicing back on track so that income from that source will be more reliable. An additional contribution to our budget’s consolidation was the fact that expenditures remained below the estimate. A notable part of those savings was made because no money was spent on support for congress attendance from the IAML budget. We owe this to the generous donation that was given by the Music Library Association (MLA) in 2015. But we continue to set aside €2,500 for congress attendance support to Outreach (managed by the local Organising Committee), and the Forum of Sections. If you are worried about Fontes costs being above the budgeted amount, I urge you to look at the document “Accounts 2016”. Here you will find that in 2016 invoices for more than €20,000 still had to be paid for volume 62 of Fontes, which resulted in a notable overspend for the complete volume. I am glad to report that thanks to Jim Cassaro, our Fontes editor, the spending for his first volume, number 63, has come in under budget. I decided, though, to raise the estimate for Fontes’ expenditure in 2017 as it became obvious that the financial goals were too ambitious and the savings from going to electronic publishing will show more slowly. Speaking of electronic Fontes, I would like to remind all of you, but especially all individual members, that our membership journal is available electronically through the IAML Web site. Please consider opting out of receiving a paper copy of Fontes and reading it online only. Just log in to the IAML Web site, go to the page where you can edit your membership data, and check the box for “eFontes”. If you do not find the spot right away, you can also send a quick message to me at treasurer@iaml.info and I will be happy to do it for you. We keep hoping that with more members going “e”, we can save on costs for printing and mailing. In 2016, as in previous years, travel expenses were monitored closely. The current Board has three members from North America and five members from Europe. Therefore, I have kept the budget for travel expenses at €20,000 for safety reasons, but the situation seems to be that it should be possible to keep these expenses at a level of €15,000. All Board members and I will spare no effort to keep travel expenses at a minimum, and with the next two congresses being held in central Europe chances are good that we will achieve that goal. I would like to remind all National Branches and individual members that according to our Rules of Procedure (Rule II,2) dues should be paid by 1 March of each year, and each National Branch should provide a current list of members to [End Page 37] the Treasurer by the same date. Branches that are unable to follow this rule for whatever reason should let me know as soon as possible and keep me updated on progress. This gives me a good opportunity to thank all the national treasurers and membership secretaries for their ongoing support and hard work in 2016. Your efforts are very much appreciated! I am grateful to the auditors Verena Funtenberger and Andreas Linne...