Finances

[moomba]

No link yet, I'll put it up when I get the chance.

Could be interesting for those clubs in debt, West Ham is probably the one in recent times that coudl have fallen foul of this.

All 20 Premier League members also agreed to adhere to a set of financial reporting rules designed to protect the viability and sustainability of the clubs.

Finances

"They will all have to annually submit accounts and future financial information," said Scudamore.

"At all times the board of the Premier League will be applying a test which basically says this: can the club fulfil its fixtures, pay off its creditors when they are due and also to meet obligations to the Premier League's contracts and partners?

"If the board believe a club is at risk of not meeting those obligations, it has to then step in and agree a budget for the running of that club. Any transfers can be embargoed.

"It's absolutely crucial that these clubs are run as ongoing viable concerns. These financial rules apply immediately.

"This is tied in, and we passed the rule during the summer, to a 'fit and proper person test'. At our club meeting last week, the clubs absolutely endorsed our position of not linking expenditure to income."

 

[Duncan Disorderly]

No link yet, I'll put it up when I get the chance.

Could be interesting for those clubs in debt, West Ham is probably the one in recent times that coudl have fallen foul of this.

The intentions are good, but I can think of quite a few issues that need to be resolved before these rules become official. My main concern comes from the preperation of the accounts. Under the standards there are many different methods to treat the same transaction and these methods can portray very different pictures to the users of the reports. A plausable solution could be for the FA to insist that the accounts are prepared by the same external accounting firm to ensure that similar methods and treatments are used by all clubs across the board and it also helps to ensure that the accounts haven't been "gently massaged".

My other concern is with having to prove that you can meet future liabilities. What's the criterea for this? will the documents that have to be provided to meet this criterea be audited? I can understand why the FA will want clubs to prove that they don't have bad debts with eachother and that their players can be paid, but what gives The FA the right to know clubs tax positions?