The UK WTS companies' accounts documents for 2015 are currently available to download and here's information plus links

AndersonsInfo

The UK WTS companies' documents for 2015 are currently free to download from the UK government's Companies House website. The person who sent me this information said that it appears they are testing a new form of the website, so access to documents may in the future revert to a pay per file system. Therefore, he advises getting copies of documents as soon as possible, as he doesn’t know when the testing phase will finish. Links are provided below.

You might be interested in both the latest annual reports of Watch Tower Society of Britain (WTSB) and The Kingdom Hall Trust (TKHT), because WTSB has been selling new kingdom halls to TKHT. TKHT now has funds of over a million pounds, whereas it appears to have had none or very little before. WTSB has also paid IBSA almost six million pounds to reimburse it for costs related to the Chelmsford relocation project. Here is an extract from the latest WTSB report compiled by a contributor to my website at watchtowerdocuments.org:

"[1] During the year, IBSA purchased literature from Watch Tower amounting to £9,050,433 (2014: £8,820,956). [2] As an integral part of the charitable activities of IBSA, it provided Watch Tower with serviced facilities to enable Watch Tower to carry out its charitable activities. During the year, the Association charged Watch Tower £6,606,420 (2014: £5,783,062) for these services. [3] The Chelmsford relocation project that was initially started by IBSA, was taken over by Watch Tower. Watch Tower reimbursed IBSA the value or all costs to date on the project, which amounted to £5,769,588. [4] Watch Tower charged IBSA £21,437 for the use of a warehouse. [5] Watch Tower charged lBSA £27,045 for utility costs. [6] Other amounts due to Watch Tower for sundry transactions amounted to £276,679. Other amounts due from Watch Tower amounted to £108,617. [7] Watch Tower and IBSA agreed a restructuring of their responsibilities, which is effective from September 1, 2015. This restructuring has led to further related party transactions, listed below: [8] Watch Tower formerly looked after the care of certain volunteers. IBSA has now assumed their care. Watch Tower therefore paid IBSA all amounts owing to these volunteers, a total of £519,276. [9] Fixed assets were transferred between Watch Tower and IBSA. Assets with a net book value of £53,323 were sold by IBSA to Watch Tower, and assets with a net book value of £255,959 were sold by Watch Tower to IBSA. [10] At the year and, Watch Tower owed IBSA £l60,504 (2014: IBSA owed Watch Tower £332,054) in respect of all transactions. [11] The charity also has close connections with Kingdom Hall Trust ('KHT'), which owns Kingdom Halls that are used as places of worship by Jehovah's witnesses, and which is a registered charity with similar objects. This charity also has the same registered office as that of Watch Tower. [12] During the year, KHT purchased newly constructed Kingdom Halls from Watch Tower amounting to £1,864,997 (2014: £Nil) The amount owing from KHT at year end was nil (2014: nil)." (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain financial report for 2015, page 25)

Use the filing history links to view and/or download all available PDF files for each company.

WTSB (Watch Tower Society of Britain):

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03858051
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03858051/filing-history

TKHT (The Kingdom Hall Trust):

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00355443
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00355443/filing-history

IBSA (International Bible Students Association):

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00136726
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00136726/filing-history

WTSOB (Watch Tower Society as an Overseas Branch):

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/FC004273
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/FC004273/filing-history

Tallon

Thanks for posting this information, Barbara.

Lostandfound

£5,765,000 on Chelmsford till end of last years filings, how much more for so little?

All in all millions swilling about, lots of ice cream money

oppostate

Thanks Barbara!

All that filthy-lucre loving accounting-books give and take makes my head spin.

Money, money, money. It's a ~~richman's~~ WT hierarchy world!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX_qAtwMDFk

slimboyfat

Lots of intersting stuff there, thanks.

Trying to understand all the financial information but not really succeeding.

I notice that all the directors have as their occupation "minister of religion" apart from Milton Henschel who was listed as "executive" amd Stephen Albert Hardy who was listed as "writer".

When in the statement would it give the amount of money spent on litigation?

Mephis

It would typically be under exceptional items, but their own costs will be fairly minimal for litigation (Bethel QC and legal team) so the recent British court cases, where costs and/or restitution to others were involved, won't appear in accounts which only cover until August 2015.

I enjoyed the fiction that their inhouse legal staff told them to fight the Charity Commission's inquiry. Tails don't wag dogs.

zeb

"may in the future revert to a pay per file system" and potentially reveal the identity of the person seeking the information.

Mephis

The system in the UK would mean that only Companies House (ie the government) would know who has requested something. It's asking for a pdf file to be sent to an e-mail address in return for an online payment - should they go that route.

shepherdless

SBF - When in the statement would it give the amount of money spent on litigation?

It is ~~hidden~~ covered by "Provision of serviced facitilites". See note 5 on page 12 of the IBSA 2015 financial statements:

slimboyfat

Can anyone give a general assessment of their financial standing from this information? I find it hard to make sense of it. In particular they had a lot of money coming in last year. Was that the raid on Kingdom Hall funds? Is there a trend in donations up or down that can be discerned apart from atypical fluctuations.

I notice they mention litigation as their major risk.

It's hard to believe they're not facing a financial crisis.

1. They've largely lost their main source of income - book publishing.

2. Their members are increasinly badly educated, poor, and disinclined to give large donations.

3. They face mounting legal costs.

I would go so far as to say that, all things considered, if they manage to avoid a crisis in these circumstances, they should be regarded as strategic geniuses.

The UK WTS companies' accounts documents for 2015 are currently available to download and here's information plus links

Share this