IF_BOOK_THE_FUTURE_OF_THE - Accounts

The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2020.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set put in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The charity's objects are to advance education through exploring the evolution of publishing, education and story telling in the digital age.

The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.

If:book uk was founded in 2007 with Bob Stein, digital publishing pioneer and director of the Institute for the Future of the Book in New York. In April 2019 and March 2020 if:book visited Bob Stein in New York where he is working on a project to establish an archive at Stanford University documenting his decades of work on digital literature. During the trips we researched the state of bookselling in the city and ran a Nearlyology project with the famous Poets House in Manhattan, gathering nearly stories from their users. We ran this little realising we were close to the start of the global pandemic and total lockdown.

The if:book New Media Writing Prizes have now been running for 10 years, administered by Prof James Pope at Bournemouth University and, to celebrate, the British Library hosted a public seminar to which we invited past winners, including the winner of the if:book Dot Award for Digital Literature, Kayt Lackie, the Canadian writer co-ordinating the Vessel project which aims to turn a small town into the virtual hub of a global alternate reality game. The British Library event was a huge success. Chris Meade and James Pope also presented at the Confluence conference at Google HQ and gave a talk to staff at the BL about the prize and its significance to the future of publishing.

This year we gave an if:book uk Dot Award to artist and film maker Alex Zita to trial a podcast on the themes of creativity, family and masculinity and launched a trial podcast, The Nearly Show.

Research and Development for this included a course at the Arvon Foundation in Devon on Writing for Radio featuring Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Susan Roberts, the Head of Drama at the BBC.

In September Chris Meade was awarded a free place at Schmiede, a prestigious annual marker festival which takes place at the Saltworks in Hallein, Austria. This important historical venue is transformed into studios for musicians, artists, dancers and creators of digital projects ending with a presentation which included fabrics designed to move on the body, a chat show powered by the guests riding bikes and Nearlyologist performing a presentation involving dance, song and readings from an installation of nearly stories gathered during the week and collected in a zine publication. All participants become part of the alumni of "Smiths' and Chris has since collaborated with several of them.

In October we spent a day at the legendary Alchemy Studios in Alexandra Palace working with producer Kenny Jones to record a suite of songs for the Nearly Project and worked with book designers Caroline Goldsmith and Bill Mayblin on the design and production of 'What Didn't Quite', the nearly novel.

In January 2020 we awarded the £1,000 if:book New Media Writing Prize to 'The Grand Duchess', a website created by a team from Belarus headed by Maria Ivanova who wrote: "In light of our experience in animation and design, we chose the format of ‘multimedia storytelling’. This format, standing between cinema and the press, seemed the best way to immerse the viewer in this very many-faceted biography. We didn’t want to retell her life chronologically, as the goal was to show her development as a person, who, despite all the tragic events, devoted herself to helping others."

In the absence of a clear winner of the Dot Award, if:book gave £500 to the magazine Modern Poetry In Translation, founded by Ted Hughes and currently edited by Clare Pollard, to develop their website and digital content. Clare will speak at next year's award ceremony at Bournemouth University (or on Zoom) to describe what they did with the award.

Finally in March we booked a room at the Free Word Centre for a presentation of work by students of graphic design and multimedia narration at the DSA University, Boulogne, France who had responded to if:book's challenge for them to make books of their nearlies and explore the concept of the Nearly Book. 14 students and their tutor Boris de Boullay were due to come to London for the event which tragically had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the pandemic.

A summary of the finances of the trust are set out on page 5. There was a deficit on unrestricted general funds for the year of £6,364 leaving reserves of £13,432.

The charity is a company limited by guarantee by Certificate of Incorporation dated 21 April 2008.

The trust is managed by Chris Meade subject to the oversight of the trustees.

The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:

The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

The trustees, who are also the directors of IF:Book the Future of the Book for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company Law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In order to assist you to fulfil your duties under the Companies Act 2006, we have prepared for your approval the financial statements of IF:Book the Future of the Book for the year ended 31 March 2020, which comprise the statement of financial activities and the related notes from the charity’s accounting records and from information and explanations you have given us.

As a practising member firm of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, we are subject to its ethical and other professional requirements which are detailed at https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/member/standards/rules-and-standards/rulebook.html.

This report is made to the charity's trustees, as a body, in accordance with the terms of our engagement letter dated 6 January 2021. Our work has been undertaken solely to prepare for your approval the accounts of IF:Book the Future of the Book and state those matters that we have agreed to state to the charity's trustees, as a body, in this report in accordance with requirements of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants as detailed at accaglobal.com. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than IF:Book the Future of the Book and the charity's trustees as a body, for our work or for this report.

It is your duty to ensure that IF:Book the Future of the Book has kept adequate accounting records and to prepare statutory financial statements that give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and deficit of IF:Book the Future of the Book. You consider that IF:Book the Future of the Book is exempt from the statutory audit requirement for the year, and is not required to obtain an independent examiner's report.

We have not been instructed to carry out an audit or a review of the financial statements of IF:Book the Future of the Book. For this reason, we have not verified the accuracy or completeness of the accounting records or information and explanations you have given to us and we do not, therefore, express any opinion on the statutory financial statements.

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 31 March 2020.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the charity keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the company.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

IF:Book the Future of the Book is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Chantry House, 22 Upperton Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 1BF.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

At the date of this report, there exists considerable uncertainty regarding the potential impact of the Coronavirus and the economic consequences which may result from government policies to contain the spread.

The duration of the lockdown or future or future government policies are unknown. However, the Trustees are confident that the Trust has sufficient reserves to continue operations and continue to use the going concern basis as appropriate in the preparation of these accounts.

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Expenditure is accounted for in the period in which it is incurred and includes irrecoverable VAT.

Fixtures and equipment are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Assets costing over £500 are capitalised. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.

At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

Basic financial assets, which include trade and other receivables and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities, including trade and other payables and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade payables are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade payables are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.

Fees and other project costs

Writing prizes

Travel

Office and administration

Website

Subscriptions

Small equipment

Magazines and books

Research and training

Bank charges

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2019 - none).