BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT Annual Report and Consolidated ...

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT 

Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements 

Year ended 31 August 2010 

Registered charity number 292786 

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT is the business name of The British Computer Society


Index 

Page No(s) 

OFFICERS, DISTINGUISHED FELLOWS AND EXECUTIVES ............................... 1 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ....................................................................................... 2 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT............................................................................... 4 

TRUSTEES’ REPORT.............................................................................................. 7 

1. The Institute’s Objectives......................................................................................7 

2. THE FUTURE OF THE INSTITUTE - Enabling the information society..............7 

3. Activity Reports......................................................................................................9 

4. Financial Review (including policy statements)................................................14 

Reserves Policy ...................................................................................................................15 

Risk Management Policy......................................................................................................15 

Investment Policy .................................................................................................................15 

Structure, Governance and Management ............................................................................16 

AUDITORS' REPORT ............................................................................................ 20 

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES.............................. 21 

BALANCE SHEETS ............................................................................................... 22 

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT...................................................... 23 

NOTES ................................................................................................................... 25


OFFICERS, DISTINGUISHED FELLOWS AND EXECUTIVES 

PATRON: HRH The Duke of Kent KG 

TRUSTEE BOARD (and Members of Council) 

MEMBERS OF COUNCIL 

President C Andrews CEng MBCS CITP W Horkan FBCS CITP 

E A Sparrow FBCS CITP M Bramer CEng FBCS CITP R G Johnson CEng FBCS CITP 

Deputy President and Chair of Products & Services Board S E Black FBCS CITP L Keighley CEng FBCS CITP 

R Assirati FBCS CITP S Bullas MBCS CITP M E Kendall MBCS CITP 

Immediate Past President R H A Burnett FBCS CITP Z Limbuwala CEng MBCS CITP (resigned 16 November 2009) 

A W Pollard FBCS CITP K Chamberlain CEng FBCS CITP R R Miller CEng FBCS CITP 

Vice-President Finance A S Brown MBCS B C Pygall MBCS (elected 13 April 2010) 

M E Clarkson CEng FBCS CITP C Chang FBCS CITP E K Somogyi FBCS CITP (resigned 25 October 2010) 

Vice-President & Chair Academy of Computing D Clarke FBCS CITP - Chief Executive M Ross MBE CEng CSci FBCS CITP 

E Bacon CEng CSci FBCS CITP (Trustee Board term commenced 18 March 2010) M G Cullen CEng FBCS CITP G I Sunley CEng FBCS CITP 

Vice-President & Ambassador Academy of Computing J H Davenport FBCS CITP (elected 18 March 2010) I Thompson CEng MBCS CITP 

A Bundy FRSE FREng FBCS CITP (commenced 18 March 2010) T A Freedman FBCS CITP M C P Underwood CEng CSci FBCS CITP 

Vice-President Policy and Public Affairs Dame W Hall DBE FRS FREng CEng FBCS CITP R G M Ward CEng FBCS CITP 

K A Olisa OBE FBCS CITP 

Vice-President Membership 

A Walmsley CEng FBCS CITP 

J Hewlitt MBCS (resigned 8 December 2009) G Wright FBCS CITP (resigned 2 September 2010) 

Vice-President Professionalism 

M J Norton CEng FBCS CITP 

PAST PRESIDENTS 

Vice-President Engineering & Science 2008/09 A W Pollard FBCS CITP 1983/84 D Firnberg 

A D McGettrick FRSE CEng CSci FBCS CITP 2007/08 R H A Burnett FBCS CITP 1982/83 HRH The Duke of Kent KG 

2006/07 N R Shadbolt FREng CEng FBCS CITP 1981/82 P D Hall OBE CEng FBCS CITP 

2005/06 C E Hughes CEng FBCS CITP 1980/81 F J Hooper CEng FBCS CITP 

Elected by Council: 2004/05 D Morriss CEng FBCS CITP 1979/80 J L Bogod FBCS CITP 

2003/04 Dame W Hall DBE FRS FREng CEng FBCS CITP 1978/79 F H Sumner FBCS CITP 

D Anketell CEng FBCS CITP CSci (Trustee Board term commenced 29 July 2010) 2002/03 J L Ivinson FBCS CITP* 1977/78 P A Samet CEng FBCS CITP 

C W Beveridge FBCS CITP (Trustee Board term commenced 29 July 2010) 2001/02 N G McMullen CEng FBCS CITP 1976/77 G A Fisher FBCS CITP 

R J Harvey CEng FBCS CITP 2000/01 A J P Macdonald CB FBCS CITP 1975/76 C P H Marks* 

M Kneller CEng FBCS CITP (Trustee Board term commenced 29 July 2010) 1999/00 D F Hartley CEng FBCS CITP 1974/75 E L Willey FBCS CITP 

A G Williamson CEng FBCS CITP c (Trustee Board term commenced 29 July 2010) 1998/99 I C Ritchie CBE FRSE FREng CEng FBCS CITP 1973/74 R L Barrington FBCS CITP 

c Chair of Council 1997/98 Sir Brian Jenkins GBE FBCS CITP 1972/73 G J Morris CEng FBCS CITP 

1996/97 R J McQuaker * 1971/72 A S Douglas CBE CEng FBCS CITP * 

R A McLaughlin CEng FBCS CITP (term ended 20 January 2010) 1995/96 G W Robinson CBE FREng FBCS CITP 1970/71 A d’Agapeyeff OBE * 

L Keighley CEng FBCS CITP (resigned from Trustee Board 4 Feburary 2010) 1994/95 D W Mann CEng FBCS CITP 1969/70 The Earl of Halsbury * 

E K Somogyi FBCS CITP (resigned from Trustee Board 11 February 2010) 1993/94 J P Leighfield CBE FBCS CITP 1968/69 B Z de Ferranti* 

1992/93 R G Johnson CEng FBCS CITP 1967/68 S Gill* 

1991/92 S C T Matheson CB FBCS CITP 1966/67 The Earl of Mountbatten of Burma KG PC OM* 

1990/91 A R Rousell FBCS CITP 1965/66 Sir Maurice Banks* 

1989/90 Dame Stephanie Shirley DBE FREng CEng FBCS CITP 1963/65 Sir Edward Playfair KCB* 

1988/89 B W Oakley CBE FBCS CITP 1962/63 R L Michaelson* 

1987/88 E P Morris TD FBCS CITP 1961/62 D W Hooper* 

EXECUTIVE BOARD 1986/87 Sir John Fairclough* 1960/61 F Yates CBE * 

1985/86 R A McLaughlin CEng FBCS CITP 1957/60 Sir Maurice Wilkes FRS FREng FBCS CITP 

Chief Executive 

D Clarke FBCS CITP 

Deputy Chief Executive 

1984/85 E S Page CEng FBCS CITP * deceased 

I Ryder FBCS 

Finance Director 

DISTINGUISHED FELLOWS 

P L Jones FCA MBCS G M Amdahl P T Kirstein CBE FREng 

Director - Qualification Products C W Bachman D E Knuth 

C Lineker FBCS I M Barron CBE A J R G Milner FRS FRSE 

Director - BCS Academy of Computing Sir Tim Berners-Lee KBE FREng FRS S McNealy 

W Mitchell MBCS CITP F P Brooks FREng W M Turski FREng 

Director - International & Professional Development D Deutsch Sir Maurice Wilkes FRS FREng 

M van der Voort MBCS W H Gates III 

Sir Antony Hoare KBE FRS 

R Wilmot OBE 

- 1 -


PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 

This has been a momentous year in the evolution of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (“BCS” or “the 

Institute”) and it has been my privilege to lead it through both calm and choppy waters. 

Through our transformation programme, launched in September 2009, the Institute has taken a major step 

forward in fulfilling our Royal Charter objective – to advance knowledge and education in computing and IT 

for the benefit of the public. We have transformed our membership networking capabilities using social 

media and web 2.0 technologies and methods. We have developed the Chartered IT Professional standard 

ensuring that it is demanding to achieve and relevant to employers’ requirements so that they will 

increasingly use it as a basis for staff recruitment. We have established the new BCS Academy of 

Computing to create a cohesive community across universities, schools and the business sector committed 

to the advancement of computing. We have developed a series of externally facing programmes to 

educate the general public, government and business about the value of IT to society. This year we made 

substantial progress in these ambitious programmes. 

BCS has changed considerably in recent years. Since 1990 our membership numbers have doubled. 

Today we have over 70,000 members in over 120 countries. The average age of new members has fallen 

and now stands at 27, while the average age of all members has also fallen – our average member today 

is 35 years old. Retention rates remain at a very high level and membership satisfaction rates have 

continued to rise and have stood at a high level for several years. Nevertheless, 2010 will be remembered 

by many as the year of the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in which Trustees and the CEO faced a 

vote of no confidence. 

The call for an EGM, signed by 52 members, was received in April 2010 and there followed a number of 

discussions in which we sought to understand and resolve the underpinning issues. This revealed a wide 

range of concerns, many misunderstandings and, most disappointingly, a lack of knowledge about the 

work already in hand to bring improvements and resolve problems and was proposed in the absence of a 

clear way forward should the EGM motions be carried by the membership. Many of the concerns raised 

with us stretched back over a number of years. We were encouraged to find at this stage that many 

signatories wanted to withdraw their call for an EGM but unfortunately not all were prepared to do so and 

the Institute moved inexorably to the point at which an EGM became unavoidable. 

The EGM campaign (on all sides of the arguments) was the first in the Institute to be carried out in the 

social media age. Anyone could contribute to the debate and publish their point of view on public websites. 

A major challenge for Trustees and the executive was the degree of misleading and inaccurate information 

about the Institute in circulation at this time and the potential for reputational damage. 

At the EGM on 1 July 2010, the motions of no confidence in the current Trustee Board and CEO were 

defeated with 76% of the votes cast against the motions. A motion submitted by Trustees asking members 

to endorse the strategy adopted by the Trustee Board of developing the Institute into one of the world's 

leading professional institutes for IT was carried with 78% votes in favour. A record 32% of our professional 

members voted in the EGM. These results gave a clear mandate to Trustees to complete the Institute’s 

transformation plans to become a world-class organisation for IT. 

We have not, however, overlooked the problems raised with us during the EGM debates. I have 

established a group to clarify the causes and to allocate the issues to the appropriate Board or Committee 

for resolution. I have also instigated a consultation on the most appropriate number of signatories to be 

required in future to call an EGM; balancing the need to provide members with a mechanism to raise 

matters of significant concern where all else fails against the need to avoid unnecessary and disruptive 

disputes. We are also setting up a whistle-blowing group for members to report problems that cannot be 

resolved through normal channels. 

- 2 -


PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE (continued) 

I am delighted to see our new Board structure building on the transformation programme to deliver 

progress in meeting our objectives. The new Membership Board Committees are beginning to tackle a 

number of long standing concerns for our member groups. The total budget for Member Groups has not 

been reduced this year or next despite cutbacks in nearly every other operational area. We have a 

renewed focus on Chartered Engineers and Chartered Scientists through a new Engineering and Science 

Board; a strengthened learned society role through the BCS Academy; and a fresh approach to the 

development of professional policies and external relations through our Policy and Public Affairs Board. 

Our focus on developing professionalism in IT remains as strong as ever through our Professionalism 

Board and our Products and Services Board keeps a close eye on our revenue generating portfolio. 

Finally, we have strengthened the role of the Audit and Risk Committee to encompass business risks as 

well as financial management. 

Following a two year programme of development and discussion, Council now has its own independent 

chair and receives Trustee Board papers and minutes on a regular basis. As the representative body for 

members, Council is increasingly involved in reviewing strategic issues and contributing to Trustee Board 

discussions. 

Against the background of the challenges and significant costs brought by the EGM and the worst 

recession in a generation, our executive team have once again delivered an excellent financial 

performance. Our revenues have grown by 2% and we have recruited over 10,000 new members during 

the year. I am very grateful indeed for the contribution made by our staff to the continued success of the 

Institute. 

I am also enormously grateful to all those volunteers who work so hard in support of the Institute’s 

objectives and progress. EGMs are very blunt instruments. They create sides and pitch professional 

against professional when we have so much to gain from working together. Today we are working to 

rebuild fractured relationships, acting on lessons learned and focusing on our strategic objectives to further 

progress this great professional body. 

Elizabeth Sparrow 

President: 2009-2011 

25 November 2010 

- 3 -


CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT 

This year has been quite a tumultuous one, with increasingly difficult trading conditions and, from January 

to the end of June 2010, having to cope with a very divisive Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). Either 

of these two situations would have put a substantial strain on the organisation, but having both at the same 

time has been unprecedented. 

In view of this environment, I am tremendously proud of what we have been able to achieve during the last 

twelve months. 

We have delivered on our operating plan for this year in terms of surplus, and have grown our revenues by 

around 2% year on year. However, all of this has come at a cost, with very tight cost management being 

the key approach. This has meant salary and recruitment freezes for the second year running and the 

continued reduction in our total staff resources of around 10% over the course of the year. With the latest 

round of Government Spending cuts being announced as we write this report and our historic dependence 

on government funded programmes in the education sector, the environment we work in is only going to 

get harder. 

It has been very disappointing that the momentum we built through the launch of our new transformation 

programmes in September 2009 was dissipated by the EGM work, which took a number of key managers 

out of their normal work into dealing with this activity. It was a huge relief to be able to get back to the real 

job of supporting our broader membership and wider professional activities after July, and focus on the 

external activities the Institute should be engaged in rather than the EGM work which had no clear 

objectives articulated to improve what we had already planned to do. My regret is that we were not able to 

avoid the EGM and it was disappointing that many of the earlier exchanges of communication were overshadowed 

by what, in many cases, proved to be unfounded misrepresentation. It did feel as though we 

had just lost seven critical months at exactly the wrong time, however, we have still managed to invest in 

new markets and new products, and will try to catch up on the lost ground from this year in the coming 

months. We are predicting that in the coming year we will see a growth of around 3% year on year. 

On the specific areas for the current year: 

Membership revenues have remained strong throughout the year and we have once again achieved our 

goal of recruiting over 10,000 new members in the year. Renewals have pretty much stayed up to the 

extraordinarily high levels of retention in numbers of the previous three years. There has though been a 

substantial increase in the number of discounted rate applications due to unemployment which has had a 

small effect on renewal income. However, the good news is that CITP applications have increased 

substantially in the second half of the year after a slow start to the new standard being introduced in 

September of 2009. All of this means that we will close the year with over 70,000 members in total. 

BCS Examinations and Professional Development Activities: 

All of these revenues come from “product” sales where the products are in IT career development or IT end 

user skills development areas, which are of course absolutely in line with our Royal Charter, charitable 

objects (see page 7) and the five key objectives of our strategy (see page 8). These product sales are not 

only two thirds of our revenues but also by far the highest surplus generating activities within the Institute 

and are the critical major sources of funding for all of our other activities. 

IT Practitioner Qualifications continue to be a big concern both now and looking forward, particularly in 

ITIL-based service management. The market here is considerably down year on year, over 30%, but the 

real pressure for us is on margins as the training provider market continues to shrink to just a few very big 

players, and the examining institutes, especially APMG with their privileged position, grow in number. 

It is really important going forward that we reduce our dependence on the UK market in general, and in UK 

government funded activities in particular, and we are now starting to see the results of three years of hard 

work and investment in international activities. 

- 4 -


CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT (continued) 

International Success: 

We have set up new distribution channels for ISEB in Australia, Germany and India. The distributor in 

Australia was successful in running the ITIL certifications on behalf of the Institute. Thanks to the activities 

of the Australian distributor we were able to grow our certification business in the region. In Germany the 

focus is on Green IT and Software Testing. In India we will focus on Software Testing. Later we will add 

ITIL certification to the Indian services. These distributors allow the Institute to create local presence with 

limited organisational and financial risk. 

We have also: 

� reached agreements with two key organisations in the Software Testing market. These agreements 

will help us grow the international presence of the Institute in this specific market. The agreements 

also protect our UK market; 

� signed a licence agreement with an Australian training and consultancy organisation. This 

agreement allows the Australian organisation to promote and sell SFIAplus related services. SFIA is 

becoming increasingly popular in Australia; 

� worked with the SFIA Foundation to update the strategy of the Foundation. The SFIA framework will 

become the leading international de facto standard for skills in IT. The Institute made an important 

contribution to the SFIA project aimed at defining skills for sustainable IT. We have initiated the SFIA 

project which will result in version 5 of the Framework. This version will be available in English, 

German and Spanish; 

� grown the relationships with a number of key partners such as CompTIA (in the area of Green IT, 

user skills and SFIA), Open Group (CITP), Irish Computer Society (CITP), itSMF (ITIL, SFIA), OGC 

(ITIL) and ISACA (SFIA); 

� supported the Institute’s Middle East section on a number of occasions, with the aim of growing the 

BCS membership in the region and growing the market for Higher Education Qualifications; 

� launched a plan to grow the membership in the US by setting up local groups. The first local group is 

based in Atlanta. This group is closely related to one of the main universities in the US; 

� launched the Green IT Foundation exam in a number of countries and see a promising start in India 

and the Asian Pacific region. We have developed a programme for the certification on Data Centres, 

based on the EU Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency of Datacenters. This programme will be 

launched internationally and we have worked closely with Pearson VUE and Prometric to grow the 

international success of ISEB exams. 

End User Qualifications: 

The End User Qualifications area has held up through a very volatile year, however, we have gained QCF 

accreditation and therefore funding, as well as school performance points approval, for all of our products 

through to April 2013. 

All of our end user products have also been mapped to the new ITQ framework. 

Digital Creator has been heavily affected by discussions on the way IT is taught in schools, and exactly 

what gets accredited. This product alone makes up most of the shortfall from our plan in the end user 

certification revenues this year. However, more schools are starting to take it up, though again it will be the 

next school year before we see significant impact on our revenues even though we now have clarity 

around its accreditation status. 

We have had a really strong year for the Institute’s own Higher Education Examinations, growing the 

revenues in this area by 23% year on year. Although most of this business is still in Sri Lanka, the number 

of UK based graduates continues to grow. 

- 5 -


CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT (continued) 

Solutions for Business has had a decent year against plan overall and at the contribution level, and is in 

line on both measures in a very difficult market. However, our margins on the consultancy part of this 

business are nowhere near where they need to be to develop a resilient long term business, and we 

continue to work on this aspect. 

Activ Training Limited also continues to perform well against its revenue plan, but we are investing in the 

development of a number of key products which has affected the surplus element this year as we write off 

all of our product development costs in the year they occur, rather than amortise them over the product’s 

lifecycle. One of the key developments here is a new online examinations capability that will be available 

for use across the whole of our examinations businesses. This is going to be critical going forward as e- 

Learning becomes a major part of many organisations’ training strategies. 

We have also, as in previous years, kept the Member Groups’ budgets and support levels the same, both 

of which are record amounts of investment in these groups, and have committed to sustaining this in the 

coming year despite the financial downturn in a seriously deteriorating market. 

These are indeed exciting times for the Institute and, providing we all continue to focus our efforts to 

benefiting and growing our wider IT profession, I remain optimistic that we will continue to achieve further 

step changes to both our organisation and profession. 

David Clarke 

Chief Executive 


- 6 -


TRUSTEES’ REPORT 

The Trustees’ Report covers the activity of the Institute for the twelve month period ended 31 August 2010. 

1. The Institute’s Objectives 

The Institute is incorporated by Royal Charter and is a Registered Charity (number 292786). Its objectives 

are prescribed by the Royal Charter and the main objective is ‘to promote the study and practice of 

computing and to advance the knowledge and education therein for the benefit of the public’. It serves 

three main constituencies: IT professionals, employers of IT professionals and society at large. Its 

governing documents are the Royal Charter, Bye-laws and Regulations. 

Delivering Public Benefit 

The Institute delivers the objectives of its Royal Charter to provide public benefit through substantial 

programmes of activities under the direction of its Trustees, Boards and volunteer communities, facilitated 

by the Institute and its members. The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in Section 4 

of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to guidance published by the Charities Commission. The 

scope of our activities are described in Section 3 below and are all primarily aimed at benefiting the public 

at large. 

The Institute’s membership at 31 August 2010 and 2009 is shown below: 

Number of Members 

2010 2009 

Fellows 2,557 2,303 

Members 46,416 46,362 

Associate members 3,017 3,153 

Companions 10 10 

Students 13,516 12,337 

Affiliates 3,845 3,848 

CMA members 922 1.303 

- 7 - 

70,283 69,316 

2. THE FUTURE OF THE INSTITUTE - Enabling the information society 

The Institute is continuing the programmes specifically launched in 2009 to become even more 

relevant to our members, volunteers, the academic community, industry, government and the wider 

public. Our stated mission is to enable the information society. 

The Institute was created in 1957 to bring together a number of different groups to try and deliver on the 

grand dream of making all aspects of computing into a compelling public benefit. We have made great 

strides since then, and Institute has evolved continually to meet the ever changing world we serve, never 

more so than in the last few years. 

Transformation 

As we evolve, we see the world changing quicker than ever, and we know this pace of change will only 

increase. We must, therefore, respond and adapt quickly and more broadly to be relevant to the world we 

now live in so that we are ready for the future. We need not just to change the Institute but to completely 

transform it, and this refocusing started in earnest in 2009 with the launching of BCS as ‘The Chartered 

Institute for IT’, with the aim not just of serving the ever changing world of the IT /computing professional in 

all its many guises, but more broadly ‘Enabling the Information Society’ as an international force. More than 

a million people work directly in information technology in the UK alone and computer science lies behind 

almost everything that happens in society today. To really support not only these knowledge workers but 

an increasingly IT dependent society as a whole, our activities and capabilities have to become even more 

relevant to our members, the academic community, industry, government, volunteers and the wider public.


TRUSTEES’ REPORT (continued) 

Knowledge 

Today’s economy is built on knowledge and it’s on our ability to process, share and manage information 

that our society thrives or dies. How well the UK does these activities will in the end determine our financial 

standing. This information is the most vital commodity we possess. We increasingly rely upon it to protect 

us from crime and terror; diagnose and treat us when we are ill; monitor and mitigate our impact on a 

wounded planet; provide open access to goods and services to fulfil our human needs; help us to save and 

spend our money wisely and profitably; collect, allocate and redistribute our taxes; ensure efficient and 

transparent markets; and work more effectively and efficiently on a daily basis. Ultimately, we rely upon 

information-based technologies to support the most human need of all, to communicate: sharing our 

needs, desires and aspirations with others. 

Information society 

IT could reasonably be called the first truly global profession, and the world needs an organisation that 

leads an IT profession fit to drive the information society, not just to follow it. The Institute is intent on 

becoming that organisation, and this re-launch is our next major step in a long-term plan to achieve this 

position. To put IT to work, we must actively address a range of social integration challenges: 

The digital divide. Contrary to popular belief, the digital divide has not closed. We too easily mistake 

broadband access for information literacy. A real and persistent gulf exists between the information haves 

and have-nots. 

Information vulnerability. From identity theft to benefit fraud, money laundering and deception – 

information is still not secure. 

Lax information management. The value of data is still not highly valued by the public, by modern 

institutions or even our profession. 

Project failure. Many public and private IT projects still fail to deliver: too often, and too often on a grand 

scale. 

Skills shortages. Nationally, and even globally, too few people are training in IT and too few are trained in 

the underlying fundamentals of computer science to solve our pressing problems. 

Lack of a clear career path. Finally, too few of those who do train actually make it up the chain of 

command into management whether inside or outside the IT function. 

We have developed a clear strategy based around five specific pillars, which you will see much of 

in the coming years, in order to address these challenges. They will support: 

1 Bridging the gap between education practice and research. 

2 Giving practitioners the professional development and career support they deserve. 

3 Informing public policy on how IT can contribute to society. 

4 Ensuring everyone benefits from IT. 

5 Championing the global IT profession. 

As the natural leader of the IT profession, responsible for awarding the much sought-after Chartered IT 

Professional (CITP) status, we must stand up and act, as a hugely respected and independent professional 

body, for the benefit of the entire industry. 

- 8 -



3. Activity Reports 

An overview of the key activities of the Institute is included in the President’s Message and Chief 

Executive’s Report on pages 4 to 6. 

A summary of the activities and achievements of each individual Board during 2009/10 is described by the 

respective Vice-President below: 

BCS Academy of Computing Vice-President & Chair: Dr Liz Bacon 

Vice-President & Ambassador: Professor Alan Bundy 

The BCS Academy of Computing (Academy) was launched in October 2009. 

Its purpose is to advance the creation, study and application of knowledge in computing. It is a 

collaborative partnership between the Institute, Council of Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC) 

and the UK Computing Research Committee (UKCRC). 

Computing has joined disciplines such as mathematics, physics and medicine as one of the UK’s foremost 

intellectual outputs. The subject is not only vibrant and growing, but more rigorous, more interdisciplinary, 

more experimental and more user-oriented than ever. Examples of ingenious computational ideas that 

have had significant impact include the use of programming languages to model cell biology, retrieving 

documents from the internet based on quantum theory, and building new kinds of massively parallel 

computers that mimic the human brain. 

Also, computing has a distinguished heritage, emerging from a rich variety of other disciplines including 

mathematics and engineering sciences such as electronic engineering. Consequently, the advancement of 

computing and IT as an academic discipline needs a unifying forum to provide integration and coherence 

across education, research and business. The Academy will enable the consistent and structured 

development of computing as well as its continued relevance and value for academics, industry 

professionals and society as a whole. 

The Academy will address how best to: 

� nurture continued ingenuity, inventiveness and innovation in computing; 

� develop and support a cohesive community inclusive of scholars, researchers and professionals with 

a shared commitment to the advancement of computing; 

� facilitate the scientific and engineering based application of computing knowledge within 

organisations to support transformational change; 

� endeavour to ensure the relevance of computing knowledge throughout the education, business and 

research sectors; 

� promote excellence in the creation, study and application of knowledge in computing; 

� engage with the public in order to facilitate a greater appreciation of the successes and challenges of 

computing, and facilitate informed debate about the roles computing should play in society at large. 

By addressing these aims, and others, in practical ways, Academy is fostering the creation and use of IT 

knowledge for maximum economic value and social impact. 

One of the Academy’s most important activities during this year has been supporting the transition of the 

Computing at School (CAS) group to a formal membership body run under the Academy. CAS was created 

to support and promote the teaching of computing in UK schools. CAS membership is broad, including 

teachers, examiners, parents, university faculty, and employers. CAS directly supports specialist 

ICT/Computing teachers, by providing them with teaching materials, training, local hubs, and the 

opportunity to meet with like-minded colleagues. This year has been especially fortunate for CAS who have 

received significant financial support from Microsoft Research Cambridge, the Department of Environment 

funded initiative Vital and Google. 

- 9 -



In July the Royal Society began a study into the state of Computing in schools and its importance and 

implications for the economic and scientific wellbeing of the UK. The Institute is one of twenty four 

organisations, including the Royal Academy of Engineering, supporting the Royal Society with their study. 

The Institute coordinated an initial fund raising activity in March 2010 to demonstrate the level of 

commitment from the Computing community for such a report on behalf of the Royal Society. Many thanks 

go to all those who provided financial assistance and pledges of funding. Namely the Universities of 

Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Greenwich, Imperial, Leicester, Loughborough, Manchester, Open 

University, Oxford, Queen's University of Belfast, Sheffield Hallam, Surrey, UCL, York, and Dundee, and 

larger pledges from the Institute, CPHC, EPSRC, Google, Microsoft Research and Praxis. Without this 

support, the study would not have been possible. The Academy and CAS are both represented on the 

Royal Society Advisory Group for the Study. 

In April 2010 the Academy with financial sponsorship from the ACM ran the ACM- BCS Visions of 

Computer Science Conference in Edinburgh. Over the three days approximately two hundred delegates 

attended the event. 

The Academy was also represented on the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) task force 

conducting a study into the Digital and Creative Industries. The subsequent report ‘The Fuse’ was widely 

reported in the media, including the BBC, the Guardian and the FT. 

Engineering and Science Board Vice-President: Professor Andrew McGettrick 

The Engineering and Science Board (ESB) has responsibility for ensuring the Institute enhances and 

promotes the status of science and engineering amongst the professions and society in general. It is also 

responsible for ensuring effective engagement with the Engineering Council, Science Council, and the 

Royal Academy of Engineering. 

Its objectives include: 

� Influencing and informing the Government and the public about professional issues in information 

systems engineering and technology. 

� Assisting companies and other organisations in improving professional competence in software 

development. 

� Encouraging individuals to develop their own skills and capabilities. 

ESB has been conducting a study into the principle roles of Engineers and Scientists within the IT 

profession in order to drive further recruitment for CEng and CSci within the Institute. This is important 

work to ensure the institute will be effective in attracting professionals from across all the different sectors 

of IT and supporting them in their professional development whether as Engineer, Scientist or IT 

professional. 

ESB has also set up a Safety Critical Systems working group chaired by Professor John A McDermid. The 

working group will prepare guidance for senior decision makers in the area of safety critical systems. It will 

also liaise with relevant government authorities to investigate how best practice can be established and 

shared across the many varied areas that encompass safety critical systems. 

Membership Board Vice-President: Adrian Walmsley 

Membership Board (MB) has responsibility for the strategic oversight of all aspects of membership 

including application, recruitment, retention, member benefits and communications: broadening the 

membership in all areas of activity in IT and computing. 

Our Member Groups – which include Specialist Groups, Branches, the Young Professionals’ Group, ELITE 

(the forum for IT Directors and Senior Managers) and International Sections – are in many ways the 

lifeblood of the Institute. They run hundreds of events every year on a vast range of computing related 

topics. 

- 10 -



In early 2009, a member-led review had highlighted areas of concern in the governance of and support for 

Member Groups. Its recommendations formed the basis for the new MB. After an extended period of 

consultation over its Terms of Reference, nominations were invited from the whole Member Group 

community for people to serve on the MB and its committees. 

MB works through three key committees, all committed to much greater openness: 

� Membership Board Finance Committee, responsible for bringing more clarity and consistency to 

the Member Groups’ budgeting process. 

� Membership Policy Committee, whose first task is to come up with a new simplified base set of 

rules for groups, after consultation. 

� Membership Best Practice Committee. As well as fostering the sharing of best practice between 

groups, the Best Practice Committee runs twice-yearly Convention events for the active volunteers 

from the various member groups. 

Early indications are that the new committee structure is working well. Two well-received member group 

Conventions were held in October 2010 for the Specialist Group (SG) and Branch communities, and the 

Policy Committee’s straw-man rules were published for comment during November 2010. 

Branches 

BCS Branches continue to develop throughout the United Kingdom. 

� The new Mid-Wales sub-Branch in Aberystwyth is working closely with the Chester & North Wales 

and South Wales Branches. Its first meeting was very well attended with 100+ attendees for the talk 

‘Can I make my fortune from the iPod (and its friends)?’ 

� Manchester Branch was involved with a popular Family Telecommunications weekend, which 

attracted over 1,000 visitors during the two days. 

� Meritorious awards were presented to Beti Williams, Richard David, Leslie Neal, Nick Dibben and 

Donald Stewart for their service to BCS, particularly within their local branches. 

Specialist Groups 

The new Animation and Games Development SG reflects the strong UK position within the global games 

industry. Its chairman recently had a slot on a 14-week television series, Channel 4's Commissioning 

Editor, Education, has featured at one of their events. 

The new Young Professionals Information Security SG complements the existing ISSG. 

BCS Health Wales has held an inaugural event and hopes to become a formal BCS group by end of 2010. 

BCS Young Professional Group 

BCS Young Professional Group (YPG) has a new chair, Ben Pygall. Highlights include: 

� Career Advancement Programme (CAP) events. 

� Debates to capture the views of the YPG membership. 

� Election of the first National IT student body ambassador. 

� Piloted the installation of video equipment in BCS London for recording events. 

International 

There are sixteen International Sections, providing similar benefits to those provided by the UK Branches. 

There are now in excess of 11,000 members resident overseas, with another 2,000 based in the UK who 

also belong to an International Section. 

A major difference between Sections and Branches is that Sections are separate legal entities to the 

Institute’s group of companies and are therefore not consolidated within these Financial Statements. 

- 11 -



Policy and Public Affairs Board Vice-President: Ken Olisa OBE 

The Policy & Public Affairs Board (PPAB) was established in 2009 and held its first meeting in April 2010. 

The purpose of PPAB Board is to oversee the fulfilment of the Institute’s mission in areas of externallyfacing 

policy affecting the profession and wider society. 

The major role for the board is to develop a coordinated approach to development, promotion and 

maintenance of the Institute’s public policy so that it can: 

� Fulfil the Charter objectives, ensuring that IT makes the maximum contribution to society – in this 

case through public and professional policy. 

� Help build the reputation and standing of the Institute, its members, and the profession, serving that 

wider aim. 

� Ensure that Institute meets the highest expectations of quality and relevance in its public policy 

development and furtherance of the resulting positions. 

� Work inclusively; building a collective voice that is truly reflective of the profession’s makeup and 

expert view, without undue influence by any special interest or viewpoint. 

� Maintain a governance role ensuring that the Institute’s policies are exemplars of robust but rational 

debate where the evidence and quality of the argument always beats the quantity or volume. 

Fundamental to this is the challenging task of creating an effective framework that converts the intellectual 

energy and expertise within the Institute that deliver widely-acknowledged public good. 

Since April, PPAB has run a consultation to establish the priorities for the membership in terms of public 

policy, and kicked off work-streams to reflect those priorities – or sought to support and amplify other work 

already under way in line with those priorities. The task of constructing processes and procedures to 

enable wide participation has also begun. 

PPAB has also overseen the restructuring of the Institute’s activity around inclusion and the wider social 

responsibility. A number of further projects are in their initial stages, principal amongst which is a national 

consultation programme considering changes to the NHS information strategy. 

Products and Services Board Vice-President: Bob Assirati 

Products and Services Board (PSB) provides a focus, on behalf of Trustee Board, to the management of 

the Institute's portfolio of products and services, including establishing priorities and approving investment 

plans. 

Its specific objectives are to: 

� Carry out a constant review of the products and services portfolio within the scope of the Institute's 

activities, and identify gaps and duplications in the products areas, including the business aspects of 

membership and management. 

� Facilitate investments in appropriate areas. 

� Manage the lifecycles of the individual product and service activity and performance. 

During the year ended 31 August 2010, PSB met four times (period ended 31 August 2009: five times) and 

successfully monitored the growth in the portfolio of Products and Services detailed in the report of the 

Chief Executive on pages 4 to 6. 

- 12 -



Professionalism Board Vice-President: Professor Jim Norton 

Professionalism Board (PB) was established in 2008 driven by the priority to develop the Chartered 

Standard for IT Professionals (CITP) which has required significant input to achieve the launch of the 

revised CITP standard in September 2009. The Board’s key objective is to oversee the Institute’s strategy 

for achieving recognition for the IT profession and the membership of the board is drawn from all groups in 

the IT stakeholder community. 

During the last year the role and responsibilities of Professionalism Board have been reviewed and has 

been updated to include responsibility for all of the Institute’s standards for IT professionals and to work 

nationally and internationally, independently or in partnership with others, as appropriate. The Board’s 

responsibilities have therefore increased to cover SFIAplus alongside CITP and the development of other 

standards. 

The Ethics Group, formed from the Ethics Strategic Panel, and Membership Committee now report to 

Professionalism Board. These groups brought with them responsibilities for the Board to make 

recommendations to Trustee Board for updates and amendments as necessary to the Institute’s Code of 

Conduct and Codes of Good Practice, Trustee Board Regulations pertaining to membership. The Board 

has overseen reviews of all these regulations during the year and will be making recommendations for 

updates to the Code of Conduct following consultation with the Institute’s Council early in the New Year. 

The revised standard for Chartered IT Professionals was launched in September 2009 as announced in 

last year’s annual report. Consultation with employers directed that there was a need to refocus the 

standard and differentiate it from the standards for Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist. The 

Institute’s Chartered IT Professional standard is now aimed clearly at IT professionals who are employed in 

any of the private, public or third sectors where Information and Technology is exploited to deliver 

advantage. 

The process by which applicants are awarded Chartered IT Professional status are now more thorough 

and those gaining the award today also receive a certificate of current competence valid for five years. 

After the initial five year period holders will remain as Chartered members of the Institute, as long as they 

remain in membership, but will need to submit for revalidation to retain the certificate of current 

competence. 

Completed applications for the new standard have increased and we are looking at increasing this level 

next year. These applications are coming from new members and from professional members seeking 

Chartered status. There are on going discussions with strategic stakeholders looking at ways to license 

employers, bodies certifying individuals in particular areas of IT and other societies with IT professionals in 

membership to award CITP on behalf of the Institute directly or as part of a license agreement. Whilst 

gaining individual members will remain important, establishing CITP as the de facto standard for IT 

professionals in the UK and internationally will only be achieved through these other channels. 

Professionalism Board also continues to work with the UK government, public, private and third sector 

employers and international groupings such as the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies 

(CEPIS). The Board has also led the re-engagement with the IFIP professionalism programme through the 

International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3). The Institute continues to support the original 

objectives of the IFIP International Professionalism Programme but cannot support that accreditation of an 

awarding body by IP3 automatically establishes equivalence and mobility of IT professionals. 

BCS Advisory Council Chair: Adrian Williamson 

BCS advisory Council exists to provide guidance to Trustee Board on the direction of the Institute, with 

particular focus on direction, strategy and budgets. Council also elects the Honorary Officers and other 

members of Trustee Board. Council consists of members elected from various constituencies from the 

membership, and the senior officers of the Institute in particular. 

During 2009/10, Council was reformed to provide greater focus for its role and relationship to Trustee 

Board. A working group, established to look at developing Council with the intention of improving its 

effectiveness, reported back with a range of recommendations. A significant recommendation from this 

group was the establishment of an independent Chair and Vice-Chair, where previously the BCS President 

had acted in that capacity. 

- 13 -



This change was voted on and passed by the Professional Membership at the 2010 AGM, establishing an 

independently elected Chair and Vice-Chair for Council. The Chair takes one of the five Council seats on 

the Trustee Board. The first independent Chair and Vice-Chair were elected at the May 2010 meeting of 

Council; Adrian Williamson was duly elected as Chair and Maggie Kneller as Vice-Chair. The Chair serves 

a two year term, the Vice-Chair a one year term. 

Audit and Risk Committee Vice-President: Mary Clarkson 

The principal objectives of the Audit and Risk Committee are to provide additional assurance on the quality 

and reliability of the financial information used by the Trustee Board and the financial statements issued by 

the Institute. This includes reviewing the policies and procedures operated for both financial and risk 

management control. The Audit and Risk Committee is responsible for: 

� Overseeing the audit of the financial statements. 

� Reviewing the framework for accountability – including modus operandi of the Boards and 

Committees, Business Reporting and Budget and Business Planning processes. 

� Reviewing the effectiveness of the control environment – both financial and otherwise including risk 

analysis and risk management. 

� Monitoring that the Institute is complying with its aims, objectives and governing instrument and all 

aspects of the law, relevant regulations and good practice including Charity Commission 

requirements. 

� Overseeing and coordinating the plan of external independent audit requirements (e.g. CEng, CSci 

and Green issues). 

During the year ended 31 August 2010 the Audit and Risk Committee held three meetings (period ended 

31 August 2009: five meetings) and fulfilled its obligations and responsibilities to Trustee Board including 

its review of the Risk Register and annual audit meeting with the external auditors. 

4. Financial Review (including policy statements) 

These financial statements comply with current statutory requirements of the Charity’s governing document 

and with the Statement of Recommended Practice – ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’ (SORP 

2005). 

During the year ended 31 August 2010, the Institute and its Group activities had net outgoing resources of 

£2,416,000 (16 months ended 31 August 2009: £3,511,000). 

A significant element of the outgoing resources during the current accounting period related to the 

investment in the transformation programme from the designated funds of £1,972,000 and the write off of 

goodwill on the acquisition of subsidiary investments of £194,000 in accordance with our accounting policy. 

A summary of the key revenue performances are included in the Chief Executive’s Report on pages 4 to 6. 

British Informatics Society Limited (BISL), which is a 100% owned subsidiary company, had a breakeven 

result for the year ended 31 August 2010 (16 months ended 31 August 2009: PROFIT £9,492) after the 

payment of Gift Aid from BISL to the Institute of £12,000 (16 months ended 31 August 2009: £250,000). 

The performance during the period reflects the financial and operating stability achieved by BISL in 

continuing to support part of the publications and conference programmes on behalf of the Institute. 

We are maintaining the strong financial position and operating performance that is necessary to support 

the ambitious and realistic programme of change and are continuing to operate sound financial 

management disciplines and procedures. This has provided the platform for significant growth in recent 

years and the Institute is confident in expecting this growth to continue in future. 

- 14 -



Reserves Policy 

The consolidated total reserves of the Institute are represented by general and designated funds. The 

basis of the individual designated funds is described in note 15 of the financial statements. 

The current level of “free reserves” which consists of the general funds represents approximately four 

months’ operating costs which is within the three to nine month target range monitored on an annual basis. 

The consolidated free reserves at 31 August 2010 are £8,740,000 (period ended 31 August 2009: 

£8,142,000). 

The Institute operates the policy of maintaining the self-financing nature of its core activities and the 

retention of adequate accumulated general funds to ensure efficient operations and provide financial 

stability for future development. 

The movement and description of the individual designated funds is included in note 15 of the financial 

statements. 

Risk Management Policy 

The Trustee Board is responsible for the management of risks faced by the Institute. Detailed reviews of 

the effectiveness of the control environment for both financial and non-financial risks are delegated to all 

Boards and in particular the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) and Products and Services Board (PSB), 

who are assisted by the Senior Staff Management team. Risks are identified, assessed and controls 

established on a regular basis, however, a formal review of the risk management processes of the Institute 

is undertaken on an annual basis. 

The key controls include: 

� Formal structure and agendas for Trustee Board, Council, Boards and Committees governed in line 

with detailed terms of reference. 

� Specific support to the Trustees from the ARC and PSB. 

� Comprehensive business planning, budgeting and management accounting. 

� Established organisational structure and lines of reporting. 

� Formal written policies including authorisation and approval procedures. 

Through the risk management process, the Trustees are satisfied that the major risks identified have been 

adequately mitigated where necessary. It is recognised that systems can only provide reasonable 

assurance that major risks have been adequately managed. 

Investment Policy 

The Institute has continued the policy of recent years to hold surplus cash as bank deposits and has not 

invested in higher risk equity investments. The Trustees have adopted this approach, given both the short 

and medium term requirements for the use of these funds, and the current economic volatility and 

uncertainties. Accordingly, the Institute is not exposed to any equity investment risk. The Institute reviews 

the continuance of this policy as part of its routine business processes. 

People with Disabilities 

It is the policy of the Institute to encourage the employment and development of suitable people with 

disabilities. No unnecessary limitations are placed on the type of work that they perform and the policy 

ensures that in appropriate cases consideration is given to modifications to equipment or premises and to 

adjustments in working practices. Full and fair consideration will be given to applicants with disabilities for 

employment and existing employees who become disabled will have the opportunity to retrain and continue 

in employment. 

- 15 -



Employee Involvement 

The Institute is committed to informing and consulting with its employees. There are dedicated forums 

which directly encourage employee involvement in the performance of the charity. Periodic internal staff 

events raise awareness of the financial and economic factors which the charity faces. 

The Institute’s aim is to fit the qualifications, aptitude and ability of all members of staff and applicants for 

employment to the appropriate job and to provide equal opportunity regardless of sex, religion and ethnic 

origin. 

Structure, Governance and Management 

A list of the members of the Trustee Board, all of whom are the Trustees of the Institute is included on page 

1. 

Council provides support to the Trustee Board in an advisory capacity and elects the appointment of 

Honorary Officers. Trustees are elected to office in accordance with the Bye-laws by the Professional 

Membership and by Council itself. On election Trustees are provided with both guidance on the structure of 

the Institute, and duties of Trustees, through induction training and more formal training events for all 

Trustees are held throughout the year as necessary. Trustees are precluded from receiving remuneration 

from the Institute except when acting as examiner for professional exams. 

Trustee Board delegates much of the strategic work of the Institute’s key activities to Boards and 

Committees. Each Board is normally chaired by a Vice-President, and also includes a senior member of 

HQ staff appointed by the Chief Executive. The Boards adopt and progress programmes of work in their 

respective areas to meet the Institute objectives. 

Attendance at the six Trustee Board meetings during the year was as follows: 

Attendance 

Trustee Eligible Present 

Elizabeth Sparrow 6 6 

Bob Assirati 6 5 

Rajan Anketell 1 0 

Liz Bacon 3 3 

Colin Beveridge 1 1 

Alan Bundy 3 1 

Rachel Burnett 2 1 

Mary Clarkson 6 6 

Steve Furber 2 2 

Bob Harvey 6 6 

Len Keighley 2 1 

Maggie Kneller 1 1 

Andrew McGettrick 6 5 

Bob McLaughlin 2 2 

Jim Norton 6 6 

Ken Olisa 6 6 

Alan Pollard 6 6 

Elisabeth Somogyi 2 1 

Adrian Walmsley 6 6 

Adrian Williamson 1 1 

- 16 -



KEY BOARDS AND COMMITTEES OF TRUSTEE BOARD 

BCS Academy of Computing Promoting the creation, study and application of knowledge 

in computing in collaboration with other key bodies 

Engineering and Science Board Developing the status of engineering and science in 

information systems and technology 

Membership Board Strategic oversight of all aspects of membership including 

application, recruitment, retention, member benefits and 

communications: broadening the membership in all areas of 

activity in IT and computing 

Policy and Public Affairs Board Development, promotion and maintenance of the Institute’s 

externally facing policies affecting the profession and wider 

society 

Products and Services Board Operational review and monitoring of the Institute’s portfolio 

of products and services including ECDL, ISEB, Professional 

Products, Publications and Membership Services 

Professionalism Board Oversee the Institute’s strategy for achieving recognition for 

the IT profession and development of CITP 

Audit and Risk Committee Review of audit processes and risk management 

The Chief Executive is David Clarke and his executive management team is detailed on page 1 as the 

“Executive Board”. 

The administration of the Institute is undertaken by a full-time executive staff based at the registered office 

in Swindon. Although the Institute‘s operations have a full time staff, as mentioned in the President’s 

Message, the Institute benefits from the significant input and contribution of its Honorary Officers and 

volunteers. However, it is not considered practical to include an estimate of this time due to the nature and 

variety of the contribution by volunteers to the various Boards, Committees, Specialist Groups and 

Branches. 

The Institute also maintains offices in London, which are used primarily for meetings. 

At the AGM in November 2009, the business to elect Council and Honorary Officers was carried out. 

An AGM was also held in March 2010 and the following business was conducted: 

� Adoption of the Trustees’ Report and the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2009. 

� Re-appointment of KPMG LLP as auditors. 

An EGM was held on 1 July 2010. 

Bankers 

Lloyds TSB Bank Plc in Ley Court, Barnett Way, Gloucester GL4 3RT. 

Legal Advisers 

Charles Russell Solicitors of 5 Fleet Place, London EC4M 7RD. 

- 17 -



Auditors 

A resolution for the reappointment of KPMG LLP, 100 Temple Street, Bristol BS1 6AG as auditors of the 

Institute is to be proposed at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. 

The policy of Audit and Risk Committee is to undertake an annual review of the performance of the 

auditors against specific criteria prior to reaching their recommendation for their reappointment. 

Registered Office 

The registered office of the Institute is First Floor, Block D, North Star House, North Star Avenue, Swindon 

SN2 1FA 

Relationships with Related Parties 

Relationships with related parties are detailed in note 19 and note 20 to the financial statements. 

Disclosure of information to auditors 

The Trustees who held office at the date of approval of this Trustees’ Report confirm that, so far as they 

are each aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the auditors are unaware; and each Trustee 

has taken all steps that he/she ought to have taken as a Trustee to make himself/herself aware of any 

relevant audit information and to establish the auditors are aware of that information. 

- 18 -



Statement of Trustees' responsibilities in respect of the Trustees' Annual Report 

and the Financial Statements 

Under the Bye-laws of the Institute and charity law, the Trustees are responsible for preparing the 

Trustees' Annual Report and the Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. 

Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare Financial Statements for each financial year. 

The group and charity's Financial Statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of 

affairs of the group and the charity and of the group's excess of expenditure over income for that period. 

In preparing these financial statements, generally accepted accounting practice entails that the Trustees: 

� select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; 

� make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 

� state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and the Statement of Recommended Practice 

have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the Financial 

Statements; 

� state whether the financial statements comply with the Royal Charter and Bye-laws, 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 group and the charity will continue in business. 

The Trustees are required to act in accordance with the Royal Charter and Bye-laws of the Institute, within 

the framework of trust law. They are responsible for keeping proper accounting records, sufficient to 

disclose at any time, with reasonable accuracy, the financial position of the charity at that time, and to 

enable the Trustees to ensure that, where any statements of accounts are prepared by them under section 

42(1) of the Charities Act 1993, those statements of accounts comply with the requirements of regulations 

under that provision. They have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to 

them to safeguard the assets of the charity and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities. 

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the financial and other information 

included on the charity's website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of 

Financial Statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. 

By order of the Board 

Elizabeth Sparrow FBCS CITP 

Chair of Trustee Board: 2009-11 


- 19 -


Independent Auditors' Report to the Trustees of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT 

We have audited the group and charity financial statements (the 'financial statements') of BCS, The 

Chartered Institute for IT for the period ended 31 August 2010 which comprise the group Statement of 

Financial Activities, the group and charity Balance Sheets, and the group Cash Flow Statement and the 

related notes. These financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out 

therein. 

This report is made solely to the charity's Trustees as a body, in accordance with section 43 of the 

Charities Act 1993 and regulations made under section 44 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken 

so that we might state to the charity's Trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an 

auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or 

assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and its Trustees as a body, for our audit work, for 

this report, or for the opinions we have formed. 

Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Auditors 

The Trustees' responsibilities for the preparation of the Trustees' Annual Report and the financial 

statements in accordance with applicable law and UK Accounting Standards (UK Generally Accepted 

Accounting Practice) are set out in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities on page 19. 

We have been appointed as auditors under section 43 of the Charities Act 1993 and report in accordance 

with regulations made under section 44 of that Act. Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in 

accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and International Standards on Auditing (UK 

and Ireland). 

We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and are 

properly prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 1993. We also report to you if, in our opinion, the 

Trustees' Annual Report is not consistent with the financial statements, if the charity has not kept sufficient 

accounting records, if the charity's financial statements are not in agreement with these accounting records 

or if we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. 

We read the Trustees' Annual Report and consider the implications for our report if we become aware of 

any apparent misstatements within it. We read the other information contained in the Annual Report and 

consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial statements. We consider the implications for our 

report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial 

statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information. 

Basis of Audit Opinion 

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by 

the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the 

amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant 

estimates and judgments made by the Trustees in the preparation of the financial statements, and of 

whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the group's and charity's circumstances, consistently 

applied and adequately disclosed. 

We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we 

considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the 

financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or 

error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in 

the financial statements. 

Opinion 

In our opinion the financial statements: 

� give a true and fair view, in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, of the 

state of the group's and charity's affairs as at 31 August 2010 and of the group's incoming resources 

and application of resources for the year then ended; and 

� have been properly prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 1993. 

Signature: 

Printed name: AC Antonius date: 25 November 2010 

for and on behalf of KPMG LLP, Statutory Auditor 

Chartered Accountants: 100 Temple Street, Bristol BS1 6AG 

- 20 -


CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES 

for the period ended 31 August 2010 

Notes General Designated Total Total 

- 21 - 

Fund Fund 12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

Incoming Resources 

Incoming resources from generated funds: 

Investment income 8 180 - 180 882 

Incoming resources from charitable activities: 

Membership subscriptions 3 4,365 - 4,365 6,667 

Professional programmes 4 (a) 16,343 - 16,343 21,250 

Events, meetings and special projects 4 (b) 327 - 327 515 

Publications 4 (c) 964 - 964 1,050 

Other incoming resources: 

Other income 6 (b) 107 - 107 71 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

22,286 - 22,286 30,435 

Less: income of joint venture (included above) 4 (c) (202) - (202) (181) 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Total incoming resources 22,084 - 22,084 30,254 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Resources expended 

Charitable activities: 

Professional programmes 4 (a) 17,897 2,014 19,911 28,243 

Events, meetings and special projects 4 (b) 2,617 - 2,617 3,507 

Publications 4 (c) 1,158 - 1,158 1,270 

Governance costs: 4 (d),5 

Governance costs 632 - 632 507 

EGM costs 190 - 190 - 

Less: costs of joint venture (included above) 4 (c) (4) - (4) (3) 

Less: costs of associated undertaking - - - - 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Total resources expended 22,490 2,014 24,504 33,524 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Net outgoing resources before Goodwill 6 (a) (406) (2,014) (2,420) (3,270) 

Goodwill amortised (194) - (194) (419) 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Net outgoing resources after goodwill (600) (2,014) (2,614) (3,689) 

Net share of results of joint venture 4 (c) 198 - 198 178 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Net outgoing resources (402) (2,014) (2,416) (3,511) 

Transfer to/(from) designated funds 15 1,000 (1,000) - - 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Net movement of funds in year 598 (3,014) (2,416) (3,511) 

Reconciliation of funds 

Total funds brought forward 8,142 3,901 12,043 15,554 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

Total funds carried forward 8,740 887 9,627 12,043 

────── ────── ────── ────── 

There is no material difference between the Group results as reported and on an unmodified historical cost 

basis. Accordingly, no note of historical cost income and expenditure is included. 

All funds are unrestricted income funds. All results arose from continuing activities. 

The Group has no recognised gains or losses other than the net movement in funds for the period.


BALANCE SHEETS 

at 31 August 2010 

Notes Group Institute Group Institute 

31 August 2010 31 August 2009 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

Fixed assets 

Tangible fixed assets 10(a) 1,110 1,108 1,392 1,372 

Intangible fixed assets 10(b) 3,549 - 3,720 - 

Investments 10(c) 1 4,346 1 4,590 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

4,660 5,454 5,113 5,962 

Current assets 

Debtors 11 3,136 2,868 3,180 2,913 

Cash at bank – current holdings 1,657 911 1,721 871 

– held on deposit 7,664 7,664 10,190 10,190 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

12,457 11,443 15,091 13,974 

Creditors: amounts falling 

due within one year 

12 

- 22 - 

(7,090) (6,712) (7,761) (7,396) 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

Net current assets 5,367 4,731 7,330 6,578 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

Total assets less current liabilities 10,027 10,185 12,443 12,540 

Provisions for liabilities 14 (400) (400) (400) (400) 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

Net assets 9,627 9,785 12,043 12,140 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

Funds (unrestricted) 

General fund 8,740 8,898 8,142 8,239 

Designated fund 15 887 887 3,901 3,901 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

9,627 9,785 12,043 12,140 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

These Financial Statements were approved by Trustee Board on 25 November 2010 and signed on its behalf 

by: 

E A Sparrow M E Clarkson D Clarke 

President: 2009-11 Vice-President Finance Chief Executive


CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT 

for the period ended 31 August 2010 

Net cash outflow from operating activities 

- 23 - 

Notes 12 months ended 16 months ended 


£000 £000 £000 £000 

(a) 

(2,749) 

(3,480) 

Net cash inflow on investments and servicing of 

finance 

Investment income 180 882 

Capital expenditure and financial investment 

Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets (196) (335) 

Income receivable from joint venture 198 178 

Net cash inflow/(outflow) from capital 

───── ───── 

expenditure and financial investment 

2 

Acquisitions and disposals 

Purchase of subsidiary undertakings (23) (4,322) 

Net cash acquired with subsidiaries 10(b) - 557 

───── ───── 

(23) (3,765) 

───── ───── 

Net cash outflow before management of liquid 

resources 

(2,590) (6,520) 

Net decrease in short term deposits (b) 2,526 7,255 

───── ───── 

(Decrease)/Increase in cash (b) (64) 735 

───── ───── 

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds 

12 months 

to 31 

August 2010 

(157) 

16 months 

to 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 

(Decrease)/Increase in cash in the year (64) 735 

Cash outflow from decrease in liquid resources (2,526) (7,255) 

───── ───── 

Movement in net funds in the year (2,590) (6,520) 

Net funds at the start of the year 

(b) 

11,911 

18,431 

───── ───── 

Net funds at the end of the year (b) 9,321 11,911 

───── ─────


Consolidated cash flow statement (continued) 

(a) Reconciliation of changes in resources to net cash inflow from operating activities 

- 24 - 

12 months ended 16 months ended 


£000 £000 

Net outgoing resources before transfers and interest in joint 

ventures 

(2,614) 

(3,689) 

Investment Income (180) (882) 

───── ───── 

(2,794) (4,571) 

Depreciation 

466 

599 

Amortisation 

194 

418 

Decrease in debtors 44 658 

Decrease in creditors (671) (584) 

Loss on disposal of fixed asset 12 - 

───── ───── 

Net cash outflow from operating activities (2,749) (3,480) 

───── ───── 

(b) Analysis of changes in net funds 

At 1 September Cash flow At 31 August 

2009 

2010 

£000 £000 £000 

Cash at bank and in hand 1,721 (64) 1,657 

Current asset investments – cash held on deposit 10,190 (2,526) 7,664 

Bank overdraft - 

───── ───── ───── 

Total net funds 11,911 (2,590) 9,321 

───── ───── ───── 

` 

(c) Statement of changes in resources applied for fixed assets for charity use (Group) 

12 months ended 16 months ended 


£000 £000 

Net outgoing resources for the period (2,416) (3,511) 

Resources used for net acquisitions of tangible fixed assets (196) (335) 

Resources used for net acquisitions of subsidiary (23) 

───── 

(4,322) 

───── 

Net incoming resources available for future activities (2,635) 

───── 

(8,168) 

─────


NOTES 

(forming part of the financial statements) 

1 Status of the Institute 

The Institute is incorporated by Royal Charter and is a registered charity. 

2 Accounting policies 

The following accounting policies have been applied consistently with the items which are considered 

material in relation to the Institute’s financial statements. 

Basis of preparation 

These statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards and under 

the historical cost accounting rules. They have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of 

Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (SORP 2005) issued March 2005, 

and the Institute’s Bye-laws. 

Basis of consolidation 

The consolidated financial statements incorporate the accounts of the Institute and its subsidiaries, 

British Informatics Society Limited (BISL), Information Systems Examinations Board Limited (ISEB), 

BCS (ITEXT) Limited, CMA, i-2-K Limited and Activ Training Limited, for the year ended 31 August 

2010. 

These statements consolidate the results of the Institute and its wholly owned subsidiaries on a line by 

line basis made up to 31 August 2010. 

The acquisition method of accounting has been adopted. Under this method, the results of subsidiary 

undertakings acquired or disposed of in the period are included in the consolidated statement of 

financial activities from the date of acquisition or up to the date of disposal. 

An associate is an undertaking in which the Group has a long-term interest, usually from 20% to 50% of 

the equity voting rights, and over which it exercises significant influence. A joint venture is an 

undertaking in which the Group has a long-term interest and over which it exercises joint control. The 

Group’s share of the profits less losses of associates and of joint ventures is included in the 

consolidated statement of financial activities and its interest in their net assets/(liabilities), (other than 

goodwill), is included in investments in the consolidated balance sheet. 

The consolidated financial statements account for ITEXT Limited as a joint venture. 

The Bye-laws require the Institute to prepare financial statements in accordance with the Companies 

Act. The Institute has taken advantage of Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and paragraph 397 

of the SORP whereby it is not required to prepare a Statement of Financial Activities for the Institute 

since a consolidated Statement of Financial Activities is prepared. 

Goodwill 

Purchased goodwill (representing the excess of the fair value of the consideration given over the fair 

value of the separable net assets acquired) arising on consolidation in respect of acquisitions since 1 

January 1998 is capitalised. Positive goodwill is amortised to nil by equal annual instalments over its 

estimated useful life, which ranges from two to twenty years based on the Trustees’ assessment of 

useful economic life. 

- 25 -


NOTES (continued) 

Fund accounting 

General funds comprise accumulated unrestricted surpluses and deficits on general funds and are 

available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the objects of the Institute. 

Designated funds represent earmarked funds allocated by the Trustees from the general funds for 

specific purposes for which no binding commitment has been established at the time the financial 

statements are prepared. Details of each designated fund are disclosed in note 15 to the financial 

statements. Trustees agree allocations to designated funds and transfers between funds are made 

accordingly. 

The Institute has no restricted funds. Restricted funds are funds subject to specific instructions by the 

donor, but still within the objects of the Institute. 

Incoming resources 

Incoming resources are reported gross and the Statement of Financial Activities recognises all 

incoming resources receivable during the period after adjustments for any deferred income which is 

included in the balance sheet as creditors. 

Investment income is recognised on a receivable basis. 

The Institute receives income from candidates at the time of registering for the ECDL. Income is 

recognised at this point. Costs are accrued to match future costs which the Institute is contracted to 

incur in respect of issuing the certificate to successful candidates. The accrual is calculated statistically 

on the basis of historic information of candidate completion rates. 

Event income is recognised when the course or event is run. Income received in advance of the 

course or event dates is deferred and included in creditors on the balance sheet. 

Membership subscription income is accounted on a receivable basis and represents only that part of 

the subscription which relates to the financial year in which it is paid, the balance is included in deferred 

income in creditors on the balance sheet and released in the period to which it relates. 

Life membership is accounted for on a receivable basis and released into the Statement of Financial 

Activities over ten years. The balance is included in creditors and carried forward to future years. 

The three subsidiary companies, British informatics Society Limited (BISL), Communications 

Management Association (CMA) and Activ Training Limited all provide goods and services. The 

income for these goods and services are recognised at the time goods and services are delivered. 

Resources expended 

Resources expended are shown gross and an accruals adjustment has been made for all known 

liabilities at the year end. 

Charitable activities include expenditure associated with professional programmes, events, meetings 

and special projects and publications. The costs are incurred by the Institute, Specialist Groups and 

Branches and include both direct and indirect costs relating to these activities. 

Direct costs are allocated on an actual basis to the relevant expense heading. 

Governance costs include those costs incurred in the governance of the Institute and its assets and are 

primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements. Support costs/central overheads 

are reallocated to the relevant expense heading on the basis of staff numbers engaged in the relevant 

activity. 

Provisions for liabilities 

A provision has been made for the estimate of costs for dilapidations which will be required at the end 

of the lease which has been capitalised in accordance with FRS15 and will be depreciated over the life 

of the lease to the Statement of Financial Activities. 

- 26 -



Foreign Currencies 

Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded using the rate of exchange ruling at the date of the 

transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated using the 

contracted rate or the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date and the gains or losses on 

translation are included in the Statement of Financial Activities. 

Taxation 

The Institute, as a registered charity is exempt from taxation on its income and gains falling within 

section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the 

extent that they are applied to its charitable objectives. No tax charge has arisen in the period. 

The profits of the non-charitable subsidiaries are normally gift aided to the parent Charity and any profit 

remaining is subject to a taxation charge. The charge for taxation is based on the result for the period. 

Deferred tax is recognised without discounting, in respect of all timing differences between the 

treatment of certain items for taxation and accounting purposes which have arisen but not covered by 

the balance sheet date, except as otherwise required by FRS 19. 

Operating leases 

The cost of operating leases is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities over the period to which 

they relate. 

Fixed Assets and depreciation 

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. The de-minimus capitalisation 

limit is £500. A provision is made for depreciation at a rate based on the estimated useful life of each 

class of asset. The rates currently in use are as follows: 

Office and computer equipment – 25% - 33% per annum on cost 

Fixtures & fittings – 10% per annum on cost 

Short leasehold improvements – over the period of the lease 

Investments 

Investments in subsidiary, associate and joint venture undertakings are carried in the balance sheet of 

the Institute at cost, less any provisions for diminution in value. 

Pensions 

The Institute operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held 

separately from those of the Institute in an independently administered fund. The amount charged to 

the Statement of Financial Activities represents the contributions payable to the scheme in respect of 

the accounting period. 

Irrecoverable VAT 

All resources expended are classified under activity headings that aggregate all costs related to the 

category. Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of resources expended for which it is 

incurred. 

- 27 -



3 Membership subscriptions 

4 Incoming resources and resources expended 

Income Staff 

costs 

Other 

direct 

costs 

- 28 - 

Support 

Costs 

Charitable 

expenditure 

Surplus/ 

(deficit) 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 

2010 

Surplus/ 

(deficit) 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 

2009 

£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 

4 (a) Professional programmes 

Professional 

Development 

1,634 601 640 319 1,560 74 (1,771) 

Examinations 13,997 2,571 6,224 2,971 11,766 2,231 3,354 

Professional Formation 268 1,084 1,098 1,469 3,651 (3,383) (4,324) 

Professional Affairs 444 197 531 192 920 (476) (1,194) 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

16,343 4,453 8,493 4,951 17,897 (1,554) (3,935) 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

4 (b) Events, meetings and special projects 

Specialist Groups 284 194 334 256 784 (500) (692) 

Branches 8 61 229 128 418 (410) (541) 

External Relations 35 711 385 319 1,415 (1,380) (1,759) 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

327 966 948 703 2,617 (2,290) (2,992) 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

4 (c) Publications 

Journals and books 762 121 871 160 1,152 (390) (398) 

Share of joint venture 202 - 6 - 6 196 178 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

964 121 877 160 1,158 (194) (220) 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

4 (d) Other expenditure 

Governance (note 5) 

Total expenditure for the 

12 months ended 2010 

Total expenditure for the 

16 months ended 2009 

- 2,681 3,765 (5,814) 

632 (632) (507) 

───── ───── ───── ───── ──── ───── ───── 

8,221 14,083 

───── ───── 

11,455 18,447 

───── ───── 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 

Subscriptions received during period 4,528 6,902 

Adjustments for subscriptions received 

in advance 

(163) (235) 

──── ──── 

Net subscription income 4,365 6,667 

──── ────



5 Support Costs Allocation 

- 29 - 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

Staff Direct Total Total 

Costs Costs 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

IT 745 605 1,350 1,523 

Finance, HR and Legal 487 1,345 1,832 1,884 

Premises 227 893 1,120 1,417 

Offices Supplies and Equipment - 160 160 378 

Depreciation - 447 447 571 

Secretariat 249 207 456 362 

Directorate including External Relations and PR 973 108 1,081 1,382 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

2,681 3,765 6,446 7,517 

Allocation to individual Charitable Activities (2,335) (3,479) (5,814) (7,010) 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

Governance Costs 346 286 632 507 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

Governance costs comprise: 

Secretariat 249 207 456 362 

Audit - 47 47 60 

Governance legal costs - 21 21 16 

Apportionment of Directorate 

(based on time spent) 

97 

───── 

11 

───── 

108 

───── 

69 

───── 

346 286 632 507 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

Cost allocation includes an element of judgement and the Institute has had to consider the cost benefit of 

detailed calculations and record keeping. To ensure full cost recovery on projects the charity adopts a policy 

of allocating costs to the respective cost headings through the period. This allocation includes support costs 

where they are directly attributable. Therefore the support costs shown are a best estimate of the costs that 

have been so allocated. 

The above total support costs have been allocated to individual charitable activities on the basis of staff 

numbers engaged in the relevant activity as shown in note 4.



6 (a) Net outgoing resources 

- 30 - 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 

Net outgoing resources is stated after 

charging: 

Audit of the Financial Statements 

Amounts receivable by the Auditors and their 

associates in respect of: 

47 40 

Audit of Financial Statements of subsidiaries 

17 20 

pursuant to legislation 

Other services relating to taxation 46 70 

All other services 

Depreciation and other amounts written off 

5 10 

owned tangible fixed assets 445 

Amortisation of goodwill 194 419 

Hire of other assets under operating lease 639 780 

and after crediting: 

Rent receivable (58) (51) 

6 (b) Other income 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

599 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 

Miscellaneous income 107 71 

────── ────── 

7 Staff numbers and costs 

The average number of employees employed by the Group during the year was 267 (2009: 266). The 

aggregate payroll costs of these persons were as follows: 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 

Wages and salaries 7,214 10,111 

Social security costs 709 942 

Other pension costs (see note 18) 298 402 

───── ───── 

8,221 11,455 

───── ─────



Remuneration of Trustees 

Employees 

No Trustees have received any form of remuneration for their services provided to the Institute or its 

subsidiary undertakings. During the year 18 Trustees (2009: 13) were reimbursed for expenses of 

£38,394 (2009: £61,025) incurred for undertaking their duties and attending meetings on behalf of the 

Institute. 

The number of employees whose emoluments for the period fell within each of the following bands is 

as follows: 

12 months 

ended 31 

August2010 

- 31 - 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£240,000 – 249,999 1 1 

£150,000 – 159,999 1 - 

£140,000 – 149,999 1 2 

£130,000 – 139,999 - 2 

£120,000 – 129,999 1 1 

£110,000 – 119,999 - 1 

£100,000 – 109,999 2 1 

£90,000 – 99,999 1 1 

£80,000 – 89,999 1 3 

£70,000 – 79,999 2 7 

£60,000 – 69,999 3 5 

The above analysis of emoluments excludes pension contributions of £71,990 (2009: £108,602) in 

respect of 13 (2009: 19) employees. 

8 Investment income 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 

Interest receivable on bank balances 180 882 

──── ──── 

The above interest arose as follows: 

Head Office 179 880 

Subsidiary Undertaking 1 2 

──── ──── 

180 882 

──── ────



9 Taxation 

There is no UK corporation tax due for either periods ended 31 August 2010 or 31 August 2009. The 

Institute, as a registered charity is exempt from taxation on its income and gains falling within section 

505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent 

that they are applied to its charitable objectives. No tax charge has arisen in the period. 

No tax is payable by its subsidiaries as any profits are gifted to the Charity. 

There is no provided or unprovided deferred taxation liability at 31 August 2010 (2009: £nil). There is a 

deferred tax asset at 31 August 2010 of £290 (2009: £341), which has not been recognised, arising in 

respect of timing differences on assets qualifying for capital allowances. 

10 Fixed assets 

a) Tangible fixed assets: 

Group Short leasehold 

improvements 

- 32 - 

Office and 

computer 

equipment 

Fixtures and 

fittings 

Total 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

Cost 

At 1 September 2009 1,658 1,600 964 4,222 

Additions in period - 144 52 196 

Disposals in period - - (16) (16) 

At 31 August 2010 

───── 

1,658 

───── 

1,744 

───── 

1,000 

───── 

4,402 

Depreciation 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

At 1 September 2009 764 1,379 687 2,830 

Charged in period 166 234 66 466 



───── 

930 

───── 

1,613 

───── 

749 

───── 

3,292 

Net book value 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

At 31 August 2010 728 131 251 1,110 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

At 31 August 2009 894 221 277 1,392 

───── ───── ───── ─────



Institute Short leasehold 

improvements 

- 33 - 

Office and 

computer 

equipment 

Fixtures and 

fittings 

Total 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

Cost 

At 1 September 2009 1,658 1,545 964 4,167 

Additions in period - 143 52 195 



───── 

1,658 

───── 

1,688 

───── 

1,000 

───── 

4,346 

Depreciation 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

At 1 September 2009 764 1,344 687 2,795 

Charged in period 166 215 66 447 



───── 

930 

───── 

1,559 

───── 

749 

───── 

3,238 


───── ───── ───── ───── 

At 31 August 2010 728 129 251 1,108 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

At 31 August 2009 894 201 277 1,372 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

The fixed assets are held for charitable activities. 

b) Intangible fixed assets: 

Group Goodwill 

£000 

Cost 

At 1 September 2009 4,429 

Additions in period 23 

───── 

At 31 August 2010 4,452 

───── 

Amortisation 

At 1 September 2009 709 

Charged in period 194 

───── 

At 31 August 2010 903 

───── 


At 31 August 2010 3,549 

───── 

At 31 August 2009 3,720 

───── 

The Trustees consider each acquisition separately for the purpose of determining the amortisation 

period of any goodwill that arises. 

On 11 December 2008 the Institute acquired 100% ordinary shares of Activ Training Limited. The 

goodwill in respect of Activ Training Limited acquisition of £3,871,000 has been amortised over a period 

of twenty years. The results of Activ Training Limited are provided in note 20.



c) Investments: 

Shares in 

group 

undertaking 

- 34 - 

Participating 

interests 

Total 

£000 £000 £000 

Institute 

At beginning of period 4,589 1 4,590 

Additions 23 - 23 

Impairment (267) - (267) 

______ ______ ______ 

At end of period 4,345 1 4,346 

______ ______ ______ 

The impairment relates to the investment in i-2-K whose operations were transferred in to BCS and 

therefore the related investment has been written down. 

The undertakings in which the Institute’s interest at the period end is more than 20% are as follows: 

Subsidiary undertakings 

Country of 

incorporation 

Activ Training Limited England and 

Wales 

British Informatics Society England and 

Limited 

Wales 

BCS ITEXT Limited England and 

Wales 

Information Systems 

England and 

Examination Board Limited 

Wales 

i-2-K Limited England and 

Wales 

Communications 


Management Association 

Wales 

Institute for Communications 

Arbitration and Forensics 


Wales 

Associated undertakings – joint ventures 

ITEXT Limited England and 

Wales 

Activ Educate Limited England and 

Wales 

Associated undertakings – associates 

SFIA Foundation England and 

Wales 

The Institute holds the following other investments: 

European Computer Driving 

Licence Foundation (ECDL- 

F) 

Principal activity Direct/ 

Indirect 

Class and 

percentage of 

shares held 

Software Training Direct 100% of 

Services 

ordinary shares 

Publications, Direct 100% of 

Conferences & 

Consultancy 


Dormant Direct 100% of 


Dormant Indirect 100% limited by 

guarantee 

Professional Direct 100% of 

Development 


Professional Body Direct 100% limited by 

for 

Communications 

Managers 

guarantee 

Dormant Indirect 100% of 


Production of 

Publications 

E-learning 

Software 

Direct 50% of ordinary 

shares & 100% 

of preference 

shares 

Direct 50% of ordinary 

shares 

Skills Framework Direct 25% limited by 

guarantee 

Ireland IT Examinations 

Licensing Body 

Direct 3% limited by 

guarantee



The amounts included in respect of joint ventures/associates comprise the following: 

Group 

Joint venture/associates 

31 August 31 August 

2010 2009 

£000 £000 

Investment in joint venture: 

– share of gross assets 3 3 

– share of gross liabilities (2) (2) 

─── ─── 

1 1 

─── ─── 

11 Debtors 

12 Creditors 

Group 

31 August 

2010 

Group 

31 August 

- 35 - 

2010 


31 August 

2010 


31 August 

2010 

Group 

31 August 

2009 

Group 

31 August 

2009 


31 August 

2009 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

Trade debtors 2,028 1,706 2,444 2,096 

Prepayments and other debtors 

1,108 1,052 736 711 

Amounts owed by group undertakings 

- 

110 

- 106 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

3,136 2,868 3,180 2,913 

───── ───── ───── ───── 


31 August 

2009 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

Trade creditors 1,180 1,009 1,534 1,462 

Other creditors 577 534 520 470 

Accruals 1,871 1,695 2,298 2,149 

Deferred income (note 13) 3,462 3,423 3,409 3,315 

Amounts owed to group undertakings - 51 - - 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

7,090 6,712 7,761 7,396 

───── ───── ───── ─────



13 Deferred income 

Deferred income comprises advance income for extended membership periods including life 

membership, sales of consultancy and training examination regulations for which the relevant 

service income has yet to be earned at the year end. 

Group: 

Balance at 1 

September 2009 

Amounts released to 

incoming resources 

Amount deferred in 

period 

Balance at 31 

August 2010 

Institute: 

Balance at 1 

September 2009 

Amounts released to 

incoming resources 

Amount deferred in 

period 

Balance at 31 

August 2010 

14 Provisions for liabilities 

Events 

Life Annual Examinations Consultancy Total 

Income Membership Membership Income and Training 

£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 

29 

(29) 

84 

(17) 

- 36 - 

2,442 

(2,442) 

481 

(481) 

373 

(373) 

3,409 

(3,342) 

47 

20 2,522 

527 279 3,395 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

47 

87 2,522 

527 279 3,462 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

Events 

Life Annual Examinations Consultancy Total 

Income Membership Membership Income and Training 

£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 

29 

(29) 

84 

(17) 

2,442 

(2,442) 

481 

(481) 

279 

(279) 

3,315 

(3,248) 

47 

20 2,522 

527 240 3,356 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

47 

87 2,522 

527 240 3,423 

───── ───── ───── ───── ───── ───── 

Group and Institute Dilapidation 

provision 

£000 

Balance at 1 September 2009 and at 31 August 2010 400 

──── 

The dilapidation provision relates to the leasehold properties held by the Institute and is the Trustees 

best estimate of the cost of the work which it is required to perform either during or at the end of the 

lease.



15 Designated funds 

Group and Institute 

The accumulated funds of the charity include the following designated funds which have been set aside 

out of the above unrestricted funds by the Trustees for specific purposes. 

Balance at 

1 September 2009 

Building 

Fund 

Charitable 

Fund 

- 37 - 

Transformation 

Fund 

£000 £000 £000 

Total 

£000 

669 

373 

2,859 

3,901 

Expenditure - (42) (1,972) (2,014) 

Transfer to general 

reserves 

(669) (331) - (1,000) 

──── ──── ──── ──── 

Movement in year (669) (373) (1,972) (3,014) 

──── ──── ──── ──── 

Balance at 

31 August 2010 

0 

0 

887 

887 

──── ──── ──── ──── 

The Building fund is held to earmark the funds expended on the provision of premises for the Institute. 

The fund will be released on an equivalent annual basis to the general fund by an amount equal to the 

depreciation charge on the premises. 

Trustee Board approved the establishment of a designated charitable fund to record and monitor the 

use of funds on special issues. These are not restricted funds. 

Transformation Fund is earmarked funds to enable the funding of the final stages of the transformation 

programme which is explained on page 7. 

In the prior years, the Institute held unrestricted designated funds to cover the investment in buildings 

and earmark funds for its activities in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. During the 

current financial year, Trustee Board approved the consolidation of all reserves, except the final 

planned stages of the funding of the transformation programme, within the general fund reserves. This 

does not indicate any changes to operational plans, however, it facilities harmonising the annual 

budgeting process entirely. 

16 Operating leases 

In the following accounting period the Group and Institute are committed to the following payments in 

respect of operating leases: 

2010 2009 

Land & Other Land & Other 

Buildings 

Buildings 

£000 £000 £000 £000 

Expiring within 1 year 33 12 - - 

Expiring within 2 to 5 years inclusive 310 37 350 58 

Expiring after more than 5 years 338 - 349 - 

───── ───── ───── ───── 

681 49 699 58 

───── ───── ───── ─────



17 Capital commitments 

There were no capital commitments at 31 August 2010 and 31 August 2009. 

18 Pensions 

The Group operates two pension schemes arranged through Standard Life and Scottish Widows. Both 

schemes invest contributions individually in the name of each scheme member. Members receive 

individual valuations of their own fund on an annual basis. 

The Standard Life scheme is a defined contribution arrangement to which the member and the 

employer contribute 2 – 9% of scheme earnings. The Group recognises the cost of contributions when 

they fall due. The pension costs charge for the period represents contributions by the Institute to the 

fund and amount to £298,056 (2009: £401,758). There are no outstanding or prepaid contributions at 

the balance sheet date. 

19 Related party disclosures 

The transactions between the Institute and ITEXT Limited, the joint venture referred to in note 10, are 

as follows: 

i) The Institute received income during the period of £198,173 (2009: £178,202) being the 

covenanted 50% share of the pre tax profits of ITEXT Limited and £20,000 (2009 : £26,667) 

rental income; 

ii) The Institute purchased publications of £208,081 (2009: £189,276) from ITEXT Limited. 

20 Operating results of subsidiary companies 

Activ Training Limited 

The wholly-owned trading subsidiary Activ Training Limited, which is incorporated in the United 

Kingdom, pays its profits to the Institute by gift aid. Activ Training Limited undertakes software 

training services. The Institute owns the entire issued share capital of 1,070 ordinary shares of £1 

each. A summary of the trading results, together with the comparative figures for the trading results 

from the date of acquisition on 11 December 2008 to 31 August 2009, is shown below: 

- 38 - 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

8 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

Summary profit and loss account £000 £000 

Turnover 2,083 1,127 

Cost of sales and overheads (1,163) (660) 

Development costs (686) (232) 

Interest receivable 1 1 

──────── ──────── 

Net profit 235 236 

────── ────── 

The assets and liabilities of the subsidiary were: 

Fixed assets 1 19 

Current assets 994 984 

Current liabilities (310) (294) 

────── ────── 

Total net assets 685 709 

────── ────── 

Aggregate share capital and reserves 685 709 

────── ──────



BISL 

The wholly-owned trading subsidiary British Informatics Society Limited (BISL), which is incorporated 

in the United Kingdom, pays its profits to the Institute by gift aid. BISL undertakes publications, event 

and conference activities on behalf of the Institute. The Institute owns the entire issued share capital 

of two ordinary shares of £1 each. A summary of the trading results is shown below: 

- 39 - 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

Summary profit and loss account £000 £000 

Turnover 508 557 

Cost of sales and administrative expenses (496) (299) 

Interest receivable - 2 

─────── ─────── 

Net profit 12 260 

Amount gifted to the Institute (12) (250) 

───── ───── 

Retained in the subsidiary - 10 

───── ───── 



Creditors: amounts falling due with one year (139) (124) 

───── ───── 


───── ───── 


───── ───── 

CMA 

The wholly-owned subsidiary the Communication Management Association (CMA) is a registered 

charity and a company limited by guarantee. CMA is a membership body for professionals and 

organisations focused on exploiting communications, networking and ICT for business advantage. 

The trading operations of CMA were transferred in to BCS during the prior financial period therefore 

there have been no profit generating transactions processed through CMA in the year. 

A summary of the trading results is shown below: 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

Statement of financial activities £000 £000 

Incoming resources - 603 

Resources expended - (654) 

Interest receivable - 14 

───── ───── 

Net movement in funds - (37) 

───── ───── 


Fixed assets - - 


Creditors: amounts falling due with one year - (56) 

───── ───── 


───── ───── 

Reserves 1 1 

───── ─────



i-2-K Limited 

The wholly-owned subsidiary i-2-K Limited, which is incorporated in the United Kingdom, provides 

services to Blue Chip and government clients to implement and manage a Continuous Professional 

Development (CPD) programme. The Institute owns the entire issued share capital of two ordinary 

shares of £1 each. 

The trading operations of i-2-K were transferred in to BCS during the prior financial period therefore 

there have been no profit generating transactions processed through i-2-K in the year. 

A summary of the trading results is shown below: 

- 40 - 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

Summary profit and loss £000 £000 

Turnover - 897 

Cost of sales and administrative expenses - (436) 

───── ───── 

Net profit - 461 

───── ───── 


Fixed assets - - 


Creditors: amounts falling due with one year - (40) 

───── ───── 

Total net assets/(liabilities) 7 7 

───── ───── 


───── ───── 

21 Financial activities of the charity 

A summary of the financial activities undertaken by the Institute is set out below: 

12 months 

ended 31 

August 2010 

16 months 

ended 31 

August 2009 

£000 £000 

Gross incoming resources 20,325 26,364 

Total expenditure on charitable activities (19,933) (27,372) 

Designated fund expenditure (2,149) (3,226) 

Governance costs (789) (507) 

Investment income 191 1,130 

───── ───── 

Net outgoing resources (2,355) (3,611) 

Total funds brought forward 12,140 15,751 

───── ───── 

Total funds carried forward 9,785 12,140 

───── ───── 

Represented by: 

General funds 8,898 8,239 

Designated funds 887 3,901 

───── ───── 

9,785 12,140 

───── ─────



The Institute holds a 100% investment in British Informatics Society Limited. Transactions during the 

financial year are as follows: 

� Gift Aid £12,000 (2009: £250,000) included in investment income: 

� Management Charge £24,996 (2009: £31,249). 

- 41 -

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT Annual Report and Consolidated ...

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