Report of the Board of Management
The Board present their report together with the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2007.
Principal Activities
The Association is a registered non-profit making Housing Association providing housing accommodation. The Association is recognised by the Inland Revenue as having charitable status within the meaning of Section 506 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988. BIH Housing Association Ltd aims to be the leading social housing provider in Northern Ireland. This goal is pursued through the commissioning, provision, management and maintenance of high quality affordable housing for those in need.
Development During the Period
The Association constructed 299 new housing units and at the end of the period 19 projects are on site comprising 405 units of accommodation for rental.
The Association continued to provide development service to Wesley Housing Society, Abbeyfield Society, and BIH (Ireland) Ltd.
Results
In terms of capital and revenue activity, the Association’s performance displays the underlying strength of the financial position with all activities performing well. The surplus for the year after taxation was £6,248,488 compared with a surplus of £2,756,604 for the previous year.
Members of the Board of Management
The members of the Board of Management are listed on page 1. Each member of the Board holds a fully paid share of £1 in the Association and no financial benefit is derived from such membership. Executive Officers of the Association hold no interest in the Association’s share capital and although not holding the legal status of directors they act as executives within the authority delegated by the Board.
Equality Policy and Employee participation
The Association is committed to equality of opportunity in all its activities and has endorsed policies to that effect. Employee participation is high among our priorities and staff have obtained external quality accreditation EN ISO 9001 for all of the activities of the Association. This system based approach is reinforced through an Investor in People. The Association also holds a Chartermark signifying excellence in service.
Corporate Governance
In the opinion of the Board of Management, the Association is in full compliance with the Code of Best Practice issued by the Cadbury Committee.
Board of Management
The Board of Management meets six times throughout the year. There are various sub-committees who meet regularly throughout the year with specific responsibilities for housing and development, finance, audit and risk and corporate services.
Audit and Risk Committee
The Association has an Audit and Risk Committee with clearly defined terms of reference. The Committee comprises four members and meets at least three times a year. Any member is entitled to attend a Committee meeting. The Audit and Risk Committee monitors financial reports and accounting policies along with the adequacy of the Association’s internal controls and provides a forum through which the Association’s external auditors report to the Board.
The Board are satisfied that no conflict of interest exists between the internal and external audit functions, despite the fact that the same firm performs both duties. The Board continues to have an objective and professional relationship with its auditors.
Going Concern
After making enquiries, the Board of Management has a reasonable expectation that the Association has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason it continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
Internal Financial Control
The Board of Management is responsible for the Association’s systems of internal financial control and along with senior management is responsible for establishing and operating detailed control and report procedures. The systems of internal financial control can provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assurance against material misstatement and loss.
The Directors have reviewed the effectiveness of the Association’s system of internal financial control. The review included the commission of and participation in a detailed review of the business risks facing the Association and of the existing internal financial control procedures. The key elements of the control system in operation are:
- There is an organisation structure with clearly defined lines of responsibility and delegation of authority
- Detailed budgets are prepared covering the Association’s businesses which are reviewed and approved by the board. Actual results are compared against budget and appropriate action identified and initiated
- The Audit and Risk Committee review matters relating to internal control and receives reports from the internal auditors and from senior management on a regular basis
Compliance with Code of Best Practice
The Auditors have confirmed that in their opinion with respect to the Board’s statements on internal financial control and going concern above, the members have provided the disclosures required by the Code and such statements are not inconsistent with the information of which they are aware from their audit work on the financial statements; and that the Board’s statement on pages 2 to 4 appropriately reflects the company’s compliance with the other paragraphs of the Code. They have carried out their review in accordance with the relevant Bulletin issued by the Auditing Practices Board, which does not require them to perform any additional work necessary to express a separate opinion on the effectiveness of either the Association’s system of internal financial control or corporate governance procedures, or on the ability of the Association to continue in operational existence.
Risk Management
BIH Housing Association’s objective is to identify and manage those risks which are likely to occur, and if they did, would have a significant impact on BIH Housing Association. The Association will utilise risk management techniques in all aspects of it operations and will integrate risk management as part of its culture. Annually the Association will identify, prioritise and assess the risk that it is subject to. Procedures to control and monitor this risk will then be identified.
Statement of the Board of Management
The Board of Management is required to prepare accounts for each financial period which give a true and fair view of the state of the Association’s affairs and of its surplus or deficit for that period. In preparing those accounts the Board of Management is required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the accounts
- prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Association will continue to operate
The Board of Management is responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Association. It is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Association and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Auditors
Crawford Sedgwick & Co have been appointed as auditors until 2008 under the terms of a resolution proposed in 2005. By order of the board
Ian NelsonChairman
Ian NelsonChairman