Accounts 2016-2017
Strathaven Airfield Ltd Annual Accounts 2015-2016
Welcome to Strathaven Airfield Ltd's second set of annual accounts as a not-for-profit company.
This is the first full-year's accounts since the creation of the not-for-profit company, with the previous year's accounts covering an 18-month period. So the two year's figures are not exactly comparable.
The biggest expense every year is the airfield rent.
Since there is a potential conflict between the actual owners of the airfield - Colin MacKinnon and Marta Briongos - and the operating company, Strathaven Airfield Ltd, we have been very careful to ensure major decisions have been made at "arm's length". The rent, for example, cannot exceed the sum assessed by an independent valuer who is RICS qualified. For your information, although the rent was assessed at £45,000 a year in 2015, Colin and Marta have chosen to restrict it to £3,000 per month, ie £36,000 a year.
The airfield lease allows for annual rent increases, but the rent was kept at £3,000 per month in December 2017 and it is anticipated that it will remain at that level throughout 2018.
Other expenses have been broadly comparable and as expected. As mentioned last year, this period was intended to be one of consolidation after the expense of the fire hydrant. The next major capital expense may be the airfield access, since our neighbour is keen to make a substantial contribution to the cost of a proper road surface.
The bursary scheme in 2018 was extended to a distance of 20 miles from the airfield and we advertised on Facebook targeted at women. This was a great success this year in attracting some very good candidates. One, Kirsty Adam, is now going to set up a University Flying Club as a result. It will be a UK first, as far as we know, and should lead to a lot more interest from young adults.
The final thing I would like to mention is the new accounting system. As part of the UK Government's Make Tax Digital plans, we will have to file accounts with HMRC every three months. So we are now using a free accounts software and hopefully this will make drawing up the accounts faster and cheaper. Fingers crossed! You will all now have seen the implementation of this with automatic invoices and receipts.
As always, the accounts and associated receipts are available for inspection at the airfield.
