The AMS’s second quarterly report shows increased profits in AMS businesses, but excessive spending by some executive offices.
This report looks at the AMS’s 2023 finances from August to October. Unlike the first quarter’s report which stated most businesses were losing money, this report highlights that food and beverage and conference and catering sales went up by eight per cent per square foot.
The administration and finance portfolios were the executives offices that most exceeded the budget.
The VP administration office spent $146,645 against the budget of $120,820 which was 21.37 per cent over budget, while the VP finance office spent $86,148 against the budget of $76,597, which was 12.47 per cent over the budget.
In an interview with The Ubyssey, VP Finance Abhi Mishra said the offices exceeded the budget significantly due to the delay in payments and reimbursements from the Student Union Development Summit and Club’s Day.
“I'm not at liberty to disclose how much we're going to get back and what the numbers are going to be. So if you’re looking for specifics, more than happy to provide that in the next quarter report,” he said.
The report shows the AMS investment portfolio has delivered a three month return of -0.21 per cent in the second quarter.
Mishra attributes the performance of the portfolio “downturns going around in the market in general, and there was a lot of uncertainty.”
To combat the anticipated $738,000 deficit in the AMS’s 2023/24 budget, Mishra said he is looking at implementing “stricter financial controls policies in place when it comes to spending money out, while simultaneously also making sure that our revenues are coming.”
Mishra believes an improvement in how the executives track expenditure can decipher the variances in spending, which can improve budgeting.
When asked about what the deficit is going to be at the end of the year, Mishra said “I am not at liberty to say exactly what the deficit would end up being by the end of the year."
However, Mishra remains optimistic about the financial performance in the upcoming quarter.
We are hopeful that it’s headed in the right direction where we would be able to make significant improvement for what it was.”
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