Covid has had a punishing impact on the finances of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, as indicated by its 2019/20 Financial Statement, with revenue from both membership and seminars and awards significantly down.
The AIPP’s largest revenue source for 2019/20 was Subscriptions Received, at $551K, down from $622K the previous year. With Covid impacting the second half of the financial period, revenue from Seminars, Functions and Awards was way down on the previous year, from $451K to $125K. Sponsorship revenue was also down, from $257K to just under $99K.
Various federal and state government support programs, including JobKeeper, came to the rescue to some extent, amounting to $56K overall.
There were three big expense lines: Seminars, Functions and Awards ($365K); Administration ($325K) and Employee Benefits and Training (312K). While administration, and functions and awards costs were well down on the previous year, employee costs were higher, up from $131K to $312K. While the AIPP office may be virtual, it took on new staff in 2019/20 – the Annual Report acknowledges seven administrative staff including Operations Manager, Matt Palmer. Administration covers a lot of areas and the financial report does not break these costs down, but a bar chart in the Annual Report indicates that accounting/bookkeeping and IT/Website were unusually large cost centres. The next largest expense was ‘Amortization – Intangibles’ at $32K. This is a bit like depreciation on the value/cost of intangible assets – goodwill, branding and other intellectual property – and as an expense is tax beneficial. But that’s a lot of amortization!
The bottom line for the 2019/20 year was a loss of $127K, compared to a profit in 2018/19 of $215K. At the end of June, 2020, the AIPP had $307K remaining in Total Equity.
The AIPP Treasurer’s Report contained the following assessment of the Institute’s financial position:
‘One thing that has become very clear is that the AIPP needs to grow if it is going to survive financially with current staffing levels, which is our main expenditure category. We can’t rely on the sponsorship levels we used to enjoy given the flux that the whole industry is in, and we cannot rely on the limited membership numbers of accredited professionals. The introduction of the new General membership category at the start of the year resulted in a positive short-term spike in membership, however that growth has flattened out again. Our cash flow projections show that if we do not find ways to grow dramatically and quickly by becoming more relevant to the broader photographic community, both at the professional level and to the general enthusiast, we will stagnate and start eating into our cash reserves. This growth will be an ongoing financial challenge and priority for the 2021 board.’
– Treasurer’s Report, AIPP Annual Report 2019/20
The 2020/21 AIPP annual report should become available to members towards the end of this calendar year.
Does the AIPP have any relevance in todays photography industry. I wonder? I would be interested to hear from some of it’s strong supporters in what role it plays.