News North records another profit

Did anyone also notice how low are cash reserves were?...

NOTE 6 – CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS Cash at bank and on hand $46,899
Total cash and cash equivalents $46,899

Edit: Appologies InTheBack, thanks

That's what happens - is my understanding - is that we literally spend it all and then it all comes back in again.

TBH we're not the kind of organisation that can afford to be sitting on huge amounts of cash doing nothing.
 
That's what happens - is my understanding - is that we literally spend it all and then it all comes back in again.

TBH we're not the kind of organisation that can afford to be sitting on huge amounts of cash doing nothing.

Just surprised we don't maintain a higher percentage as a cash reserve, that's all.

With spending on infrastructure I get why its low, just need to ensure we have more should any circumstances change... but mostly agree with what you are saying
 

big_e

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Just surprised we don't maintain a higher percentage as a cash reserve, that's all.

With spending on infrastructure I get why its low, just need to ensure we have more should any circumstances change... but mostly agree with what you are saying
We have $2.35 million in a bank facility that we are not currently using - so if need be would could dip into that.
 
Did anyone also notice how low are cash reserves were?...

NOTE 6 – CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS Cash at bank and on hand $46,899
Total cash and cash equivalents $46,899

Edit: Appologies InTheBack, thanks

This is at 31st October, our cash flow is quite good so on average what flows in and out of the club is very positive, the problem is we get large payments that cover a significant period of time, be it an AFL distribution or corporate sponsorship payment or whatever it is. Most clubs rely on an overdraft system and/or longer term loans to bridge the period between when large payments are received and the payment of wages, creditors when they fall due, etc which occur regularly.

There could be millions sitting in our bank account a few days later, the financial reports are just a snapshot of what has occurred for the last period ending on that particular date. If the club withheld creditor payments until after the 31st October and had say an extra $2m in liabilities but had an extra $2m in the bank on 31st October would the club be in a stronger position? The answer is no. You need to take everything into consideration.
 

big_e

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Chicks mate, there's fully heaps of them, and they even have cash now from having jobs which was the start of the decline of society imo when that happened.
Roy Morgan reported a few years ago that about a third of Australian women already support an AFL team, and watch AFL games. (Source)

Stats are a few years older, but women are already 45% of football supporters. (Source)

There would be very few women and girls in this country who haven't had some exposure to football, and a decent chuck already support clubs. And many will never support any club because they just don't like sport, even women's sport. So I think AFLW memberships, etc are an opportunity for the incremental growth I was talking about, rather than a vast untapped market.
 

big_e

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As an aside, for people who are interested in this stuff, and like the round-ball code, there's an excellent podcast/twitter account/blog call The Price of Football (http://priceoffootball.com/). Most of the discussion is around EPL but also lower league and European soccer. Worth checking out.
 
We have $2.35 million in a bank facility that we are not currently using - so if need be would could dip into that.

This is at 31st October, our cash flow is quite good so on average what flows in and out of the club is very positive, the problem is we get large payments that cover a significant period of time, be it an AFL distribution or corporate sponsorship payment or whatever it is. Most clubs rely on an overdraft system and/or longer term loans to bridge the period between when large payments are received and the payment of wages, creditors when they fall due, etc which occur regularly.

There could be millions sitting in our bank account a few days later, the financial reports are just a snapshot of what has occurred for the last period ending on that particular date. If the club withheld creditor payments until after the 31st October and had say an extra $2m in liabilities but had an extra $2m in the bank on 31st October would the club be in a stronger position? The answer is no. You need to take everything into consideration.

Thank you guys for clearing that up :thumbsu:
 
Can't find who said it but I remember reading someone say recently that modern financial statements are designed to deceive rather than inform most readers. Partly by putting everything into one big line item like "revenue" but also even by the terminology and excessive use of notes demanded by modern accounting standards. Compare the 2019 financials with the 1977 P & L, for instance.

View attachment 818392

I love that old statement.

Reporting standards have changed over time to make Australian reporting more consistent with international reporting standards. We have different tiers in terms of reporting standards, our football club would fall under Tier 2 and would have lower reporting requirements, it can also be less in-depth in terms of the information provided. Some clubs do not even report how much money they receive from membership sales or gate receipts, they sometimes just have a very vague type of revenue categories because there isn't the requirement for them to provide detailed information.

There is a lack of consistency across all football clubs though in terms of the standard of reporting.
 
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Can't find who said it but I remember reading someone say recently that modern financial statements are designed to deceive rather than inform most readers. Partly by putting everything into one big line item like "revenue" but also even by the terminology and excessive use of notes demanded by modern accounting standards. Compare the 2019 financials with the 1977 P & L, for instance.

View attachment 818392

How clear is that? Wish that was the template all clubs had to comply with.
 
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If there was a cost associated to the 2020 period as a result of his termination then it should have appeared in Note 18.

Okay, nothing there. They obviously guessed his AFL contract wage on October 31st.
 
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I could be wrong, but our review was a sham, there is no way it would have cost us more than $1m to basically sack a handful of people.

Perhaps that's where they put Brads contract?
 

big_e

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$1m for a review.

FMD.
The quote from page two is:

"The club undertook a review of the club operations during the year and as a result incurred restructuring costs related to external consulting costs and the payments to employees. These are not considered to be an annual recurring item of expenditure."

I read that as being the million bucks was for the review and the termination payments to Scott, Tudor, et al.
 
That is outrageous. Can't be thrifty in all things and then throw out a million for a few weeks of work.

Basically played 2 games in Tassie to fund a review.

If that money includes the payouts (if any. And I still have no idea from what people gave said.) Then suddenly that extra game to Tassie to make finals makes sense. It was to fund the clean out.

How's it going btw?
 

SirAlex

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If that money includes the payouts (if any. And I still have no idea from what people gave said.) Then suddenly that extra game to Tassie to make finals makes sense. It was to fund the clean out.

How's it going btw?
Well I'd like some transparency on that because:

1) if it wasn't and that was just a review then we got shafted
2) what is their job because I need to find how to get to that job in the future
3) if it was including payout disregard but clearly Joyce wasn't getting paid enough!
 
The quote from page two is:

"The club undertook a review of the club operations during the year and as a result incurred restructuring costs related to external consulting costs and the payments to employees. These are not considered to be an annual recurring item of expenditure."

I read that as being the million bucks was for the review and the termination payments to Scott, Tudor, et al.
Ill admit up front that this s**t is way above my understanding and relying heavily on you blokes on understanding this. But if that is the case, and thats the reviewAND payoffs for everyone, and the bottom line still looks good(?) then this is a good result?
 
Perhaps that's where they put Brads contract?

It would make sense to me, the one-off restructure costs was explained as "The club undertook a review of the club operations during the year and as a result incurred restructuring costs related to external consulting costs and the payments to employees. These are not considered to be an annual recurring item of expenditure."

That wouldn't be just Brad, there were a number of staff changes as part of that restructure.
 
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It would make sense to me, the one-off restructure costs was explained as "The club undertook a review of the club operations during the year and as a result incurred restructuring costs related to external consulting costs and the payments to employees. These are not considered to be an annual recurring item of expenditure."

That wouldn't be just Brad, there were a number of staff changes as part of that restructure.

Indeed, the redundancies went a long way down into the footy dept; a mate of mine's son was a junior member of the recruiting team, came to work the Monday after the big departures, to be told he was no longer required. $1 million in redundancies given the number of people involved, the leading names of which were on 6 figure salaries, is not excessive - 2.27% of the $44million turnover.

Oh, and I should add by speculating this is one area where the AFL may have been of assistance - Brad's role at AFL was in the media in September, and my guess is that his contract payout from North would have been discounted by the AFL salary (hence the certainty with which the Club can post their financials as at 31 October)
 
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The quote from page two is:

"The club undertook a review of the club operations during the year and as a result incurred restructuring costs related to external consulting costs and the payments to employees. These are not considered to be an annual recurring item of expenditure."

I read that as being the million bucks was for the review and the termination payments to Scott, Tudor, et al.
A small price to pay.
 
Indeed, the redundancies went a long way down into the footy dept; a mate of mine's son was a junior member of the recruiting team, came to work the Monday after the big departures, to be told he was no longer required. $1 million in redundancies given the number of people involved, the leading names of which were on 6 figure salaries, is not excessive - 2.27% of the $44million turnover.

Oh, and I should add by speculating this is one area where the AFL may have been of assistance - Brad's role at AFL was in the media in September, and my guess is that his contract payout from North would have been discounted by the AFL salary (hence the certainty with which the Club can post their financials as at 31 October)

That would make sense, given the number of people turned over including CEO and executive team members it is hard to imagine that Scott's termination was remotely close to $800k of that $1m given the number of people moved on.

I think the club should be transparent when it comes to how much it was required to terminate Scott's contract, while the board is responsible for assessing the competence of the coach and replacing them when needed, it is the member's role to assess the competency of the board and do likewise if they feel they have been incompetent, particularly with the last extension of his contract given where the club was at the time.

It is difficult to make that evaluation without access to all the facts.
 
A small price to pay.

It will be a small price to pay IF we make the most of the opportunity and correct what has been the better part of two decades of meandering in mediocrity.

I think luck will play a big part, it has been no secret that Shaw wasn't first choice, in fact he wasn't second or third either... We wanted Clarkson, then Simpson, then Longmire and when all other desired options pulled it was given to Shaw. If he becomes the next Clarkson or Simpson then it will have been worth it. If he isn't though then the lack of a proper review and assessment of all coaching options might come back to bite us, particularly if one of the other candidates that were later appointed by other clubs has the success we desire.

I am just not sure if it is even possible to tell the difference between a good coach or a dud, there was nothing about Clarkson that made him stand out before he started coaching, if there was a clear science to it then there wouldn't be so many dud recruitments. Luck plays a massive role and we have rolled the dice like a fair few clubs did this year, we just have to hope we have better luck than we have had recently. On face value, Shaw looks to be a good candidate, but Scott was as well. I am actually happier we got Shaw than had we got Longmire. There is a massive unknown quantity with Shaw, but Longmire is too much like Scott for my liking.
 
Indeed, the redundancies went a long way down into the footy dept; a mate of mine's son was a junior member of the recruiting team, came to work the Monday after the big departures, to be told he was no longer required. $1 million in redundancies given the number of people involved, the leading names of which were on 6 figure salaries, is not excessive - 2.27% of the $44million turnover.

Oh, and I should add by speculating this is one area where the AFL may have been of assistance - Brad's role at AFL was in the media in September, and my guess is that his contract payout from North would have been discounted by the AFL salary (hence the certainty with which the Club can post their financials as at 31 October)

Bingo bango.
 

Lebit

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Few things I take from the reading of the financial reports (not an accountant by any means but consider myself fairly financially literate)

There is no reason for the club to make a huge profit - we don't return dividends, we don't have huge debts to pay down, given we just did the redevelopment we've not saving for anything as such. What you want to do make money to increase spending in our core business - football and playing better football.

So given that objective consider this..
We increased revenue by about $4million.
We increased spending on football by about $4 million (basically job done in my book)

The reality is the biggest effect on financials will in on field success, from that flows members, attendance and sponsors
given the lack of on field success the following points look promising:

Membership - 1,600 odd less members year on year but revenue about level - this suggests the club is doing a reasonable job convincing us to buy more expensive categories of membership, or just put the costs up.
Sponsorship and Sales - this is up by 26% year on year (or about $2.5 million) - that's pretty impressive for a bit of a 'nothing' year.

Also worth looking at where the revenue comes from - AFL distributions 39%, Sponsorships 26%, Memberships 14%, Gate receipts 6% fundraising (excl redev) 6%
Not sure how different this is to other clubs (given some time I might have a look) but you realise how tough it is to dramatically increase revenue without huge on field success

all in all IMHO this is looks like a pretty good result given the circumstances
 
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