Page 10 - Annual Report 2014-2015

STATEMENT BY THE TREASURER
Mr. Ulf BENGTSSON/ Treasurer of FEANI
With total assets of EUR 507.159,05 at the end of 2014 and EUR 434.377,06 at year-end 2015, the FEANI Central Of ce has gone through some dif cult years. In spite of the considerable efforts made to further reduce operational costs, two consecutive years of de cits could not be avoided. Also 2016 announces itself as a dif cult one in breaking even, despite the implementation of radical measures to optimizing our cost structure. In this respect, our general of ce expenses will be further reduced by relocating the FEANI Central Secretariat in April 2016 to a smaller, but more attractive and less expensive venue in the Brussels European quarter. In the period 2008 to 2015 we reduced total overhead costs with 12% and went from 4.4 FTEs to 2.7 FTEs.
As Treasurer I am particularly worried about the main reasons causing these de cits. They relate to non-committed members, refraining from complying to their prior obligation, which is to pay their annual membership fee, despite numerous reminders. The reasons for this non-compliance may vary, but none of them is acceptable over a longer period of time. At many occasions, the Finance Committee, the Executive Board and the General Assembly have debated this issue and considered each speci c case in isolation. As a result, the Organization has adopted its Statutes in 2014 to allow National Members in dif culty to opt for the status of ”Suspended Member” for a maximum duration of three years. This should allow for an acceptable transition for members in dif culty to