WTS account for Britain (2005)

dozy

Hopefully is available in Adobe format by clicking on the link.

http://www.box.net/public/podqx6rrkb

slimboyfat

Hi dozy,

How are you doing?

Interesting document. What's the analysis? How did you come by it?

I found another interesting site that details the contributions, expenditure, and body of elders of each congregation in England and Wales. Unfortunately it does not have the same information for Scotland.

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/search.asp?position=1&oparea=S

Search for "Jehovah's Witnesses" and the name of a specific congregation.

The site used to list the addresses of the principal trustees in each congregation, which would have been useful for apostate letter campaigns, but it no longer has that information.

Someone could do an interesting analysis of whether the contributions are going up or down in England, if they had the inclination.

Slim

slimboyfat

Oh, they still do have a correspondence address if you click on the registration number.

Slim

dozy

I'm trying to post an analysis here.

dozy

Its quite easy to access charity records online if you have authorisation to check company records. I'm trying to obtain the IBSA records as these hold the freehold of the Bethel buildings - the WTS of Britain (WTSB) is merely the operating division.

My analysis - it looks like the squeeze on payments for literature is continuing with income down 14% and the payment to Brooklyn down 25%. Conversely , the WTS is doing well from direct donations - up 31%. Congregations and circuits are being encouraged to donate more while no doubt most of the increase is from wills and legacies bulked up by booming property and equity markets. (I know of at least 2 London properties willed to the WTSB to the despair of grieving relatives!)

£25 million in working capital sounds a lot , but in the context of £18 million turnover probably isn?t. It mainly seems to be invested in gilts and bonds - no Rand Corp or Philip Morris scandal here for the conspiracy theorists! Over 800K in admin expenses seems very high , especially as the trustees don?t draw an income. Merrill Lynch don?t come cheap - as their remit is simply to get a 4% increase on capital , perhaps the WTSB would be better off by depositing the funds in a high interest account at the Millihill HSBC!

Note the stress on vague charitable aims - humanitarian relief etc. I wonder how the WTSB manages to square the emphasis on preaching tolerance in a multi-cultural society with the recent tract!

Gill

Two congregations on the other side of Leicester to us have interesting accounts. They have just built a quick build hall and have a mortgage again, but how much I don't know.

They are the Eyres Monsell KH of Leicester and the Wigston KH of Leicester.

I wondered why Eyres Monsell had an overspend of Thirty six thousand pounds for 2004/2005 and yet Wigston had a gross Income of 20,482 pounds and a total expenditure of 7180 pounds for the same 2004/5 period. Bearing in mind here that they have a 50/50 partnership on this new KH. (Sorry, my pound sign isn't working)

Is there a good reason why two congregations in partnership have this kind of discrepancy in their figures?

Gill

For 2004/05 Eyres Monsell had an Income of exactly ten thousand pounds and yet they spent over forty six thousand pounds. The bills between Eyres Monsell and Wigston are meant to be split exactly.

Dozy - Do you think this is some kind of fiddle, or is my imagination getting the better of me? It just seems that since bills are meant to be split 50/50 between them, why do they have a different expenditure?

slimboyfat

dozy,

Is this what you are looking for:

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?remchar=&chyno=216647

There is also listed a kingdom hall fund, and some others too under various searches.

Do you know if the information for individual Scottish congregations is available anywhere?

Slim

Gill

They appear to be making a bit of a loss now compared to previous years excess and breaking even.

dozy

IBSA now available ... http://www.box.net/public/remqb0utlx

I reckon the property value (in the books at 46 million) is grossly undervalued. In 2001 it was estimated to have a 250 million value and it will have grown since then.

I must admit that I am confused with the 2 organisations and their relationship - anybody help me out here?

I don't think the Scottish info is available - it is a different system in Scotland and the congregations don't submit annual reports.

In answer to Gill's question , assuming the 46K expenditure isn't a typo , then it must have been an item of expenditure solely for that congregation. As expenditure isn't broken down , I reckon it was perhaps a one-off payment to the worldwide work - maybe the cong had a large historical balance in their account. I very much doubt that it was anything dodgy - accounts are read out every month , audited every quarter and checked by the CO every 6 months. You have a suspicious mind , Gill !

WTS account for Britain (2005)

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