The industry’s leading association the PIAA recorded losses of $1.27m in its 2016 year, which its CEO says were cumulative and represent a line on the sand over the past.
Total expenses for 2016 were $3.49m with an income of $2.2m. income for the previous year which included the controversial sale of the national headquarters in Auburn was $3.9m with expenses of $3.5m.
Staffing costs for 2016 were $2.2m, virtually the same as income, however that was before the serious reduction in staff numbers which now sees just 17 full time staff at the Association.
Andrew Macaulay, CEO at the PIAA says, “The PIAA has moved into the modern era, with an absolute transparency of accounting and a determination to operate within the current framework. We have drawn a line in the sand under the past with this set of figures, and from now on the association will be profitable without the need to depend on lumpy income.”
“The report shows the Association is in a strong financial position going forward, and will be profitable going forward. It will no longer be dependent on government grants, donations or one off revenues such as those that come from trade shows. It will balance the books, with staffing levels now reflecting its income. It has substantial real estate assets. The Association is well set to serve the needs of the printing industry going into the future.”
The figures for 2016 show that the bulk of income came from membership subscriptions of $1.74m, down from the $1.9m the year before. Other revenue was down by a third to $245,000, leading to an overall deficit in income of 10 per cent to $2.2m, against $3.9m from the year before when the sale of the Auburn HQ was factored in.
Essentially the PIAA has been running at a loss for many years, its member subscription income has been on the decline for the past 20 years, it was $3.8m in 1996, in 2016 it was less than half of that at $1.74m, which was itself an eight per cent decline on the year before. Macaulay took the view that the association had to face up to the facts and cut its cloth accordingly. The PIAA says membership is now stable.
Its major assets are in real estate, with some $9.2m worth of land and property under its ownership, this is $2.1m less than the year before, reflecting the sale of the Auburn national headquarters.
Staffing levels at the PIAA are currently running at 17, dramatically less than the 50-60 it has been running at for most of the past 20 years. For 2016 staffing costs came in at $2.2m, virtually the same as the PIAA’s entire income.
Macaulay says, “The PIAA is equipped for the job, we do not need three times the staff we have.”
One of Macaulay’s first acts when he was appointed as CEO last year was to remove the entire PIAA accounting team from CFO down, and replace them. He says that forensic examination of the association’s accounts and accounting practices revealed a body living beyond its means, surviving through lumpy income from the trade shows and various government grants. “Those days belong in the past”, says Macaulay, “The PIAA has to move forward and operate in a modern framework, and that is what we are doing.”
The PIAA 2016 Annual report is available here.
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