annual report

YEAR END REVIEW:2012 and beyondFrom the Chair of the Investment Committeeindependentauditors’reportThe first half of 2012 was a taleof two quarters; the first quarterrepresented the strongest startfor the U.S. stock market since1998, with Japan turning inits best first quarter gains intwenty-four years. This waslargely driven by a reductionof fears about Europe, as wellas stronger economic data inthe U.S.The second quarter gave manyof those gains back as the capital markets becameincreasingly volatile as Europe’s debt crisis escalatedonce again and questions of a slowdown in Chinaand the fragility of the recovery in the U.S. allcontinue to weigh on the markets. In this volatileenvironment, being nimble and tactical becomesall the more important.The Foundation continues to focus on:• Maintaining secure liquid funds to cover expensesand provide cash-flow for granting needs.• Determining the appropriate long-term allocationof assets between equities and fixed income.• Maintaining a broadly diversified portfolio,allocating investments between asset classes,by geography, sectors and by industry.• Searching for cash flow from investments. In anuncertain environment with respect to economicgrowth and equity returns, we continue to focuson the yield from investments. The cash-flowsfrom our fixed income and dividend payingequities continue to make sense to us in aneffort to get “paid” while we wait for growth.We believe that we should continue to have significantexposure to Canadian securities and to the Canadiandollar. However, through our portfolio managers,we carefully continue to systematically increase ourexposure to U.S. and international equities in bothour long-only equity portfolios as well as in ourlong-short alternative strategies.The Investment Committee continues to havea strong conviction that we can achieve theFoundation’s objectives: capital preservation, capitalappreciation, reliable income generation and positiveabsolute returns for the Foundation’s investments.Wallace Shoemaychair, investment commiteeTo the Board of Directors of the Ukrainian CanadianFoundation of Taras Shevchenko:The accompanying summarized financial statements,which comprise the summary statement of financialposition as at March 31, 2012 and the summarystatement of operations and changes in net assetsfor the year then ended, are derived from the auditedfinancial statements of the Ukrainian CanadianFoundation of Taras Shevchenko for the year endedMarch 31, 2012. We expressed an unmodified auditopinion on those financial statements in our reportdated July 6, 2012.The summary combined financial statements donot contain all the disclosures required by generallyaccepted accounting principles. Reading the summarycombined financial statements, therefore, is not asubstitute for reading the audited financial statementsnoted above.Management’s Responsibility for the SummaryFinancial StatementsManagement is responsible for the preparation ofa summary of the audited financial statements inaccordance with Canadian accounting standardsfor not‐for‐profit organizations.Auditors’ ResponsibilityOur responsibility is to express an opinion on thesummary combined financial statements based onour procedures, which were conducted in accordancewith Canadian Auditing Standard (CAS) 810,“Engagements to Report on Summary FinancialStatements.”OpinionIn our opinion, the summary financial statementsderived from the audited financial statements ofUkrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenkofor the year ended March 31, 2012 are a fair summaryof those financial statements on the basis describedin Note 1.Winnipeg, ManitobaCHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS& BUSINESS ADVISORS INC.July 6, 2012• Regardless of the economic cycle, the state of theeconomy or short-term market volatility — stickto the agreed upon investment parameters, barringa change in the Foundation’s circumstances.46 || 47