The Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Asbof) and the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance (Basbof) fund the advertising regulatory system by collecting a levy on advertising expenditure.
Year to 31 December 2007
Audited income and expenditure figures for the combined non-broadcast and broadcast activity in 2007 are given in the table below and are the total of the amounts recorded in the Report and Financial Statements of the two companies that were adopted by the Non-Broadcast and Broadcast Councils at their respective Annual General Meetings held on 11 April 2008.
Income
Compared with 2006, income received from the Advertising Standards Board of Finance Ltd rose by £487,000 (10.91%) to £4,950,000. Income received from the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance also rose; by £194,000 (6.71%) to £3,086,000. The total income was £8,036,000; a rise of £681,000 (9.26%) compared with 2006. Interest received rose by £29,082 (67.01%) and produced additional income of £72,484.
Expenditure
In the early years of the combined nonbroadcast and broadcast operation, budgets and forecasts of expenditure were prepared on a cash basis. The budget agreed for 2007 was £8,020,920 but a £75,000 contingency was required to be set aside.
The forecast of expenditure for the year was £7,935,667; a saving of £10,253 (0.13%) after allowing for the contingency. On the cash basis, the audited figures show an overspend of £197,511 (2.49%) against the budget.
At the end of quarter three, expenditure was largely in line with budget with the vast majority of expense categories being on target; but significant and unexpected costs were incurred in the last quarter. Direct staff costs, by far the largest expense category, were very close to budget but indirect costs in the form of recruitment, temporary staff and BUPA cost £85,000 more than forecast. Similarly, unexpected premises costs of some £22,000 were incurred. An over-run on the Copy Advice marketing project accounted for a further £35,000 and legal fees were £14,000 more than anticipated. An under-projection error of £45,000 accounted for the remainder of the overspend. Further controls have been put in place to ensure this is not repeated.
On the Profit and Loss basis, however, the audit confirmed expenditure of £7,801,479; an increase of £604,570 (8.40%) compared with 2006 but still considerably less than the costs anticipated in the Business Plan of September 2004 (£8,557,000).
The Report and Financial Statements for ASA and ASA(B) reflect a split of costs, determined by Asbof/Basbof to reflect the workload between non-broadcast and broadcast activities, of 63% and 37% respectively and applying them to the non-specific costs – overheads, general office costs and the like. Specifically identifiable costs were allocated in full to the relevant function.
Profit/Loss
The combined profit before tax of both non-broadcast and broadcast activity was £310,394 (2006 – £176,957). After tax the combined profit was £248,029 (2006 – £345,185).
Registered Offices
The Advertising Standards Authority Ltd
Mid City Place
71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6QT
Registered in England: No 733214
The Advertising Standards Authority (Broadcast) Ltd
Mid City Place
71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6QT
Registered in England: No 5130991
