Finance and Administration

Finance and Administration is probably the most crucial commission of any council and thus it is essential that each rep understands how NZUSA works financially. As a result most of the first two sessions were taken up by the accountant, Peter McCloud, explaining the 1975/76 accounts and the 1976/7 budget.

We were informed that NZUSA had purchased a building located at 22 Courtenay Place and that renovations would shortly be completed and officers would be moving in sometime in June. STB Ltd will have an office with street frontage which should result in a greater level of business.

The Arts Council budget was amended as a result of the Board decision not to have a full-time chairman, and approved. There was considerable discussion over the future of Arts Council and the full-time position of chairman. It was felt that the Arts Council question must be resolved this year and as a result a report was called for that would evaluate the the present position of Arts Council, (b) what students wanted from an Arts Council and (c) the prospects of Arts Council becoming a promotions only organisation. It was quite obvious that Arts Council is under capitalised and that if more money does not come from constituents it may well fold up at the end of the year.

A motion to increase the 1976 levy to NZUSA from $ 1.20 to $ 1.25 per student was lost but Auckland gave notice of its intention to move for an increase to $2.00. A general consensus was that $1.65 was more acceptable.

A report was presented on NZUSA's business intermediary Student Services Ltd and it was decided to proceed with the formation of this company. The Holding company will be owned by NZUSA Inc and will own the shares in STB Ltd. The reason for setting up a holding company is to get greater flexibility in making decision to expand NZUSA's business activities.

At this stage F & A had used its alloted time and an extra meeting was called at 6.00am on Sunday morning. Unfortunately I had to catch the 7.00am plane and missed this session but one important decision made was to ask constituents to reject any advertising in students newspapers from Student Supplied Ltd until the word 'Student' is removed from the company's name. The reason being that should this company get into financial difficulties and collapse this could reflect badly on the credit rating of Student Associations and student business ventures. Student Supplied Ltd has no financial backing or investment from any student body.

Steve Underwood