Reserves Policy

BURY BACH CHOIR - RESERVES POLICY

The Reserves Policy for Bury St Edmunds Bach Society (the Society) is as follows:

The Trustees have a duty to ensure that the Society remains solvent and able to discharge its liabilities while operating for the benefit of its members and audiences, in line with its charitable aims.

The Society has three prime sources of income:

•  Membership subscriptions

•  Ticket sales for concerts

•  Sponsorship and patronage

The most significant single source of income (a corporate sponsor) provides less than 10% of annual income.

Expenditure is incurred primarily as rehearsal expenses and the cost of staging concerts.

Finances are managed by an annual budgeting process, with variations from year to year dominated by the choice of concert programming. The Society has no significant long term commitments (e.g. contracts or leases) and could reduce expenditure relatively rapidly ‘in-year’ if needed. The Society carries insurance against cancellation of concerts.

The purpose of this policy is to allow Trustees to assess whether the reserves held by the Society are sufficient to cover foreseeable risk when the budget for the following year is set.

Trustees consider that the greatest financial risk arises from the cancellation of a concert where the insurance policy does not engage. In a worst case scenario, all ticket income would need to be returned and all commitments honoured. A minimum reserve based on the most expensive concert for the upcoming season will be included in the relevant budget when presented to the trustees. The figure will assume all costs for the concert and zero income. A 10% contingency will be added to the final figure.

The agreed sum will be included in the accounts presented at the AGM.

Any reserves accumulated above the agreed ‘target’ level should not be excessive, bearing in mind the aims of the choir and its charitable status, and may be used to subsidise the choir’s activities.

If the reserves are used during the season, the first financial priority for Trustees should be to rebuild the reserves to the agreed target reserves level.

This policy was last updated on 1 July 2025