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2023-12-31-accounts

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 231508 (England and Wales)

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023 FOR THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY

Royal Economic Society 2 Dean Trench Street Westminster London SW1P 3HE

THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY

CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Page
Report of the Trustee Board 1
Report of the Independent Auditors 14
Statement of Financial Activities 17
Balance Sheet 18
Cash Flow Statement 19
Notes to the Financial Statements 20

THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEE BOARD FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

The Trustee Board presents its report together with the Financial Statements of the Charity for the year ended 31 December 2023.

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBERS: 231508 (England & Wales)

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF THE CHARITY, ITS TRUSTEES AND ADVISORS

MEMBERS OF THE TRUSTEE BOARD AND CHARITY TRUSTEES

PRESIDENT: Prof Mary Morgan (from 26 May 2023) PRESIDENT ELECT: Prof Sir Christopher Pissarides (from 26 May 2023) TREASURER: Andrew Farrell (resigned 31 December 2023) Sue Holloway (from 1 January 2024) CHAIR OF TRUSTEES: Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli (from 26 May 2023) COUNCILLORS: Tera Allas Prof Miguel Costa-Gomes Assoc Prof Swati Dhingra CO-OPTED: Kofi Adjepong-Boateng Tom Aldred Dr Conrad Copeland Assoc Prof Stefania Paredes-Fuentes Dr Steven Proud

TRUSTEE BOARD MEMBERS SERVING AS CHARITY TRUSTEES DURING AN EARLIER PART OF THE YEAR

From 1 January to 26 May 2023:

Prof Nicholas Crafts Prof Imran Rasul

CHIEF EXECUTIVE (NON TRUSTEE):

Leighton Chipperfield

HEAD OFFICE: 2 Dean Trench Street Westminster London SW1P 3HE

AUDITORS:

Sayer Vincent LLP 110 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0TG

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BANKERS:

INVESTMENT MANAGERS:

NatWest Bank plc 143 High Street Bromley Kent BR1 1YZ Sarasin and Partners Juxon House 100 St Paul’s Churchyard London EC4M 8BU

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

The charity was founded in 1902 and is registered with the Charity Commission under charity number 231508 (England and Wales). The reference and administrative details of the Charity are shown on page 1 of the Financial Statements above.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Constitution

The Royal Economic Society is constituted by a Royal Charter of Incorporation dated 2 December 1902 as amended by a supplemental charter dated 26 January 1968 and byelaws as made in General Meetings of the Society from time to time, subject to the consent of the Privy Council. There are no specific restrictions imposed by the governing document.

The byelaws of the Society were revised by order of the Privy Council made on 19 July 2022 and taking immediate effect.

Appointment of Trustees

The Royal Economic Society Trustee Board comprises the President, President-Elect, Honorary Treasurer, Chair of Trustees, three representatives from Council and up to five trustees co-opted by Council on a proposal from the Trustee Board. The Trustee Board currently meets three times a year.

The trustees are legally responsible for the overall governance, management and policies of the Society, ensuring that the charitable objects for which it has been set up are met. All new members of the Trustee Board receive the Charity Commission’s information on the responsibilities of Charity Trustees. Trustee Board members receive a briefing and induction pack on appointment, with further training undertaken on as required.

Since May 2017, the day-to-day running of the Society is delegated by the Trustee Board to the Chief Executive, who reports to the Chair of Trustees.

Members of the Council, which appoints some Trustee Board members as explained above, are nominated by members of the Society and considered by the Nominations Committee. The Nominations Committee comprises six elected members of Council (each of whom serves three years on the committee), the President-Elect and two Additional Members, with the Elections Officer acting as non-voting secretary. The Additional Members are either Life Vice-Presidents of the Society or individuals of high standing in the profession. The Nominations Committee draws up a list of candidates who are voted upon by the members of the Society to become members of Council for a term of five years. The Presidents Selection Committee, which nominates the incoming RES President-Elect, comprises all members of the Nominations Committee excluding the incumbent President-Elect.

Public Benefit

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duties in Section 17(5) of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. The trustees have referred to the guidance in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the aims and objectives of the Society and in planning its future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.

Management and administration

In 2017 the Society relocated its office headquarters from the University of St Andrews to Westminster, London, and

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appointed its first directly employed staff.

Key management personnel remuneration

The Trustee Board (through its Remuneration Committee) reviews annually the pay of the Chief Executive. In view of the nature of the Society, the remuneration is also benchmarked with similar charities or with reference to sector reports to ensure that the remuneration set is fair and not out of line with that generally paid for similar roles. The Remuneration Committee also considers and makes recommendations to the Trustee Board for annual review of all employees’ salaries.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The trustees have given consideration to the Society’s major risks and satisfied themselves that systems or procedures are established in order to manage and mitigate those risks to the level that the Society deems appropriate.

During the year, the key risks that might impact on the Society’s objectives and the internal procedures have been kept under review and a risk register is in place. This identifies external and internal risks. It is consistent with the guidance published by the Charity Commission in its guidance on risk management (CC26). The Trustee Board has reviewed and approved changes to the risk register and risk ratings therein.

In line with Charity Commission guidance, the risk register identifies the key categories of risk relating to governance, finance and operations.

The fact that finance is a standing item of business for meetings of the Trustee Board and Council ensures that the appropriate financial information is regularly scrutinised. The Society’s investments are held in a variety of unit trusts in order to minimise systematic risk and the investment policy is reviewed against performance at least every three years. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures for authorisation of all projects and financial transactions. A Finance Committee is in place, chaired by the Treasurer. This committee is charged with making recommendations to the Trustee Board on the Society’s reserves and investment policies, advising the Treasurer on working capital requirements and reviewing the appointments of auditors and making recommendations to the Annual General Meeting.

The Trustee Board has considered the major risks facing the Society in 2024 and the medium term and remains focussed on the challenges that arise for longer-term financial sustainability from changes in the academic publishing market. The principal risks have been identified as follows:

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members.

These risks have and will be mitigated as follows:

Volunteers

The Society could not achieve its charitable objectives without the commitment and hard work of its volunteers, both Members and non-Members, many of whom give freely of their time to act as journal reviewers, committee members and volunteers to support our events and activities. The Society wishes to thank all those who have supported it over the last year.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting was held online from 24-26 May 2023 with 35 members taking part (2022: 61). Amongst other decisions, members agreed to elect the Presidents and Councillors for the forthcoming year and to appoint Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli as Chair of Trustees.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objects

The Royal Economic Society is established to promote and foster the study of economic science. The Society is also concerned with the application of the results of that study.

These objects are undertaken by means of publications, the Annual Conference, Postgraduate Conferences and helping to further the study of economics via free Public Lectures, a programme of various Grants and Projects, and an annual essay competition for Young Economists focused on schools.

The Trustee Board confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011, to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. The Trustee Board believes that social welfare is advanced by promoting and fostering the study of economic science, and that its activities serve to educate the public, and particularly that section of the public that is interested in issues of economic policy. The results of the economic research that the Society supports are widely disseminated through its publications. Although the benefits of the Society’s work are not restricted to its members, the subscription is deliberately set at a low level to encourage a broad base of membership, including those on lower incomes.

Strategy

2023 was the final year for the Society’s strategy for the period 2019-2023. The strategy set out four key priorities as follows:

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The Society continued to measure its achievements against these priorities, with many of its activities delivering on more than one priority.

In early 2023 a working group was formed, chaired by the President Prof Mary Morgan, to oversee the process of developing a new strategy for the period 2024-2028. The working group reflected on the achievements and challenges of the previous period, identified new opportunities and risks and that had emerged in the past years, and considered the Society’s place in the ecosystem of cognate organisations. The Society’s Trustee Board, Council and staff were actively involved in the ideation and review process. This process was helped immeasurably by the membership’s excellent response to a consultation on the draft strategy issued during the year, with over 330 responses containing thoughtful suggestions and feedback. Separately the Society also engaged some of its organisational partners for their views. The overwhelmingly positive response to the consultation allowed the working group, Trustee Board and Council to finesse the draft strategy, which with certain modifications was approved and published in the autumn of 2023.

Building on the previous strategy, the 2024-2028 strategy has four strategic priorities:

For the first time, the Society also published 5 core values that drive its work:

Activities to Achieve Objectives

The Society meets its objects by undertaking the following activities.

1. Membership

The Society has a membership scheme whereby anyone who is interested in the study of economics can join and receive the various benefits of membership.

2. Publications

The Society has two peer-reviewed journals, The Economic Journal and The Econometrics Journal. Publication of the journals transitioned to Oxford University Press at the beginning of 2019. Members of the Society can pay a higher fee to receive printed copies of The Economic Journal; members may also choose to receive a printed quarterly newsletter. Increasingly, timely information of interest to members and the general public is provided via the Society’s website and social media channels. On-line access to The Economic Journal and The Econometrics Journal is available and is heavily used.

In addition, the Society has a commitment to publishing scholarly editions of classic works in economics. Its editions of the works of Ricardo, Malthus, Marshall, Edgeworth, and Keynes (also now available through online subscription) set an international standard in these matters.

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3. Conferences, education and training

The Society organises several educational events during the year, subsidised primarily from the surplus generated by publication of the Economic Journal. The largest of these is the Annual Conference, which rotates around UK universities and is held around Eastertime. A one-day PhD Conference takes place annually, organised by a committee of PhD students. The RES Easter School, funded jointly with the Economic and Social Research Council, provides advanced training for doctoral students and early career professional economists. In recent times the Society has expanded its offering to provide online seminars to members and potential members.

CHUDE (Conference of Heads of University Departments of Economics) comprises Heads of Economics at universities in the UK. Its ultimate purpose is the promotion of research and teaching of economics, and more generally of the significance and importance of economics, in the UK. Bi-annual meetings offer a forum for discussion of issues of interest.

4. Grant funding of activities

Members are eligible to apply for a range of grants; these schemes are outlined in note 7 to the accounts. The postgraduate conference grant schemes provide support for individuals of limited means to meet the costs of attending these events.

5. Outreach

The RES conducts activities to improve the public understanding of economics and to promote the subject to schoolage young people. These include an Annual Public Lecture and a Young Economist of the Year competition. The Society also partners with other organisations to this end, such as the annual Festival for Economics. The RES Discover Economics campaign, launched in 2019, seeks to attract more students from underrepresented groups into economics by broadening the appeal of the subject and changing perceptions of economics and economists.

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Review of activities

In line with the objects and strategy of the Society the key achievements during the year ended 31 December 2023 were as follows.

Journals

In 2018, Oxford University Press was selected as the Society’s journal publisher for a five-year period from January 2019. In 2022 this agreement was renewed for a further five years from January 2024.

The Economic Journal received a total of 1,596 submissions in 2023 (2022: 1,673). 88% of regular submissions that were sent to referees were returned to authors within four months of submission (2022: 87%); 0% of submissions took longer than six months (2022: 0%). The 2022 2-Year Impact Factor (released in June 2023) was 3.2 (2021: 3.721) The Economic Journal continues to be highly international, with 12% of author submissions from the United Kingdom (2022: 15%), 22% from the United States and Canada (2022: 23%), 42% from Europe (2022: 39%) and 24% from the Rest of the World (2022: 23%).

The total number of submissions to The Econometrics Journal was 130 (2022: 134) and the number of accepted papers was 23 (2022: 31). The Journal’s JCR year 2022 2-Year Impact Factor was 1.9; this placed it in Quartile 2 in three categories (Mathematics/Interdisciplinary Applications; Social Sciences/Mathematical Methods; and Statistics & Probability) and in Quartile 3 in Economics. Longer run impact measures: 2022 5-Year Impact Factor 3.8 (2021: 4.602) and Article Influence Score: 3.279 (2021: 4.377). The total number of citations in the JCR year was 1,848 marking the ninth consecutive year that citations have increased.

Other publishing activities

A working group convened in 2022 to review opportunities for increasing the number of high quality papers continued its work in 2023. The group concluded that it made more sense to develop strategies to publish more high-quality content in the existing journals, rather than launching a third journal. A recommendation to expand The Economic Journal was approved by the Publications Committee, which was in turn approved by the Trustee Board in late 2023. An announcement will be made in 2024.

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In 2012 the Society published with Cambridge University Press the full 30 volumes of the Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes in digital and paperback editions. Through a 2013 arrangement with the publisher, the Society has since provided the membership with free digital access to this important scholarly resource.

Membership

In November 2021 the RES transitioned to a tiered pricing model for membership. Under the model, those on lower incomes or no income pay a lower fee, while higher-earning members are asked to pay more.

The Society continued to offer group membership in 2023, with 7 departments or other organisations taking up the scheme (2022: 6). The Society launched a member and conference registration bundle, with 257 individuals becoming members through this scheme. The Society’s total membership of 3,801 was in line with the previous year (2022: 3,844). The trend for members to opt for online only access to the journals continued, with 98% of members holding an online membership (2022: 98%).

Additionally, in 2023 the Society launched Institutional Membership. By the end of the year 5 organisations – the Bank of England, Compass Lexecon, the Financial Conduct Authority, Frontier Economics and the Government Economic Service – had joined as Institutional Members.

The geographical composition of the membership was largely unchanged, with 46% of members in the UK (2022: 45%), 22% located elsewhere in Europe (2022: 23%), 12% in the United States or Canada (2022: 13%), 1% in Japan (2022: 1%) and 20% in the Rest of the World (2022: 17%).

Newsletter

New editions of the quarterly newsletter are made available to members via the RES website on publication, and to nonmembers after one month. Members are also sent a digital version of the issue via email. 2023 issues featured a range of topics including the RES Climate Change Summit, an issue honouring Adam Smith’s tercentenary, an economic perspective during the reign of HM Queen Elizabeth II and the art and science of communication.

Easter Training School

The 2023 Easter Training School took place on Monday 27 March – Wednesday 29 March and was an in-person event at the University of Bristol.

The Easter School was pleased to host two keynote speakers – Prof. Gabriella Conti and Prof. Eric French, with additional contributions from Dr. Elaine Kelly, Ann Raymond and Prof. Stephanie Von Hinke. Students attending presented papers and posters. 50 applications to attend the School were received (2022: 35); 35 were accepted (2022: 26) and 31 participants attended (2022: 26). All participants rated the event overall as either ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’.

PhD Conference

The annual RES PhD Conference (formerly the RES Symposium for Junior Researchers) was held at the University of Glasgow on Friday 9 June, with the event hosted and coordinated by students from the university. 160 papers (2022: 174) were submitted with 63 papers (2022: 45) accepted for presentation. The Keynotes were presented by Dr Adam S. Posen and Prof. Herve Moulin. 98% of attendees reported that the event was Excellent/Good.

European Job Market for Economists (EJME)

The 2023 European Job Market for Economists took place online, continuing the partnership between the European Economic Association, the RES, and the Spanish Economic Association. Over 900 candidates and 100 institutions took part. In November the Society again hosted its popular webinar ‘How to Prepare for the European Job Market for Economists’, which this year was chaired by Prof Caroline Elliott. Approximately 100 individuals joined the live webinar.

TeachECONference2023

The Society continued its support for economics educators by sponsoring a networking session at the TeachECONference2023, an annual virtual conference on economics education.

Professional development

The Education & Training Committee organised the second annual RES summit, which this year was on the topic of inflation

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and the credit crisis. Speakers included Assoc Prof Swati Dhingra (London School of Economics and Bank of England), Xiaowei Xu (Institute for Fiscal Studies) and Alfie Stirling (Joseph Rowntree Foundation), with approximately 100 members attending. The event received welcome coverage from Reuters, Bloomberg and The Telegraph.

Grant funding of activities

Society members can apply for grants under the Research Dissemination Grant (RDG), Conference Grant (CG) and the Discover Economics Grant (DE) schemes. The authority to consider applications and award grants under these schemes is delegated to the Education & Training Committee, within financial limits and the overall policy determined by the Trustee Board. The Knowledge Transfer Projects Grant (KTP) programme was discontinued in 2023 following a review of its impact.

The RDG programme received a total of 10 applications, six of these applications were successful with a total funding award of £10,005. The CG programme received 51 applications in 2023, 27 of these were successful with a total funding award of £9,000. The DE Grant programme received a total of 11 applications, 8 applications were successful with a total funding award of £7,800.

Diversity and Women’s Committee

The Diversity Champion Prof Stefania Paredes-Fuentes, working closely with the Member Operations Director, continued to deliver the Diversity and Inclusion Programme approved by the Trustee Board. A part-time Programmes Officer was appointed in April 2023 to support these activities. The programme of work has grown significantly and encompasses a range of activities to further diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) across the Society and the wider discipline. In 2023 this included launching the RES Diversity and Inclusion Network and holding 3 events (2 online, 1 in person); publishing a research report “Who Studies Economics” addressing the lack of diversity in the pipeline; delivering a Consciously Inclusive Mentoring Programme for members; holding an Active Bystander special session at the RES Annual Conference 2023, and publishing a video in November 2023 entitled “Be the change: how to be an active bystander”. The Society continues to monitor the diversity of its own activities and has developed a comprehensive bank of DEI-related resources on the RES website. The Member Operations Director continues to sit on the Academic of Social Sciences/ESRC EDI working group to share best practices on improving diversity across the social sciences.

The Mentoring Programme run by the Women’s Committee caters for UK-based early-career female lecturers and advanced female PhD students. The 2023 Mentoring Programme matched 58 mentees to 22 mentors (2022: 69 mentees to 10 mentors), and a special session was convened at the 2023 Annual Conference on getting published.

Significant data analysis work was undertaken for the next Women’s Committee gender report “Women in Economics Report”, using HESA data, with the aim of publishing the full report in early 2024.

The Women’s Committee launched the UK Women in Economics Network (UK WEN) in February 2023 at an event hosted by the Bank of England. This network aims to support the career development of UK-based women in economics across all sectors and is overseen by the Member Operations Director and supported by the Programmes Officer for Diversity Although in its early stages the network has grown significantly, delivering a careers event in partnership with J.P. Morgan Asset Management, several ‘Inspirational Talk’ events and a Best Practice Forum. A social media presence has been established and regular e-newsletters are circulated to the mailing list. Elsevier provided funding towards the network costs, whilst partner organisations have provided support through the hosting of events.

Outreach

Website

The Society continued to add to its website content, with a particular focus on diversity and inclusion content in 2023. Following the launch of the UK Women in Economics Network a separate part of the website was launched for this initiative. Information and resources curated by the Diversity Champion were expanded. Updates were made to the RES members area, with the newsletter, member news and a video library available to members through this portal. Updates continued to be made to user navigation and to enhance the visual appeal of the website.

Social media

The Society aims to reach a wider audience through its social media activity and maintains a presence on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn and YouTube. The Society’s followers on X increased to 19k in 2023 (2022: 17.3k), whilst the Economic Journal’s followers increased to 22.5k (2022: 20.4k). On LinkedIn the Society’s followers increased to 5.6k (2022: 3k). 23 videos were added to the Society’s YouTube channel, with 35.9k views of videos on the channel (2022: 55.2k) and 7.7k

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subscribers.

Public outreach

The 2023 Annual Public Lecture was delivered by Prof Wendy Carlin and chaired by Prof Denise Hawkes (at University of Reading) and Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli (at University of Glasgow). A combined total of c. 300 students (2022: 254) attended the lecture.

The Society again provided financial support to the Bristol Festival of Economics which was held in November 2023.

Young Economist of the Year competition

The Young Economist of the Year competition is open to students studying a range of further education qualifications and is directed at those who are UK based and studying in school years 10 to 13 or equivalent.

Submissions to the competition increased to 1922 entrants (2022: 1179). The Discover Economics campaign promoted the competition through stakeholders, RES members and direct to schools. KPMG UK sponsored the competition and provided judges for the initial shortlisting. 5 entries were selected to attend an in-person final held at KPMG UK offices – Canary Wharf. Finalists presented their work to an audience of stakeholders and to a judging panel (Arun Advani, Sarah Smith, Heather Sharp, Lizzy Burden and Chris Giles). Through support from HM Treasury, finalists met Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury Sam Beckett and visited 10 Downing Street.

The winning entry on ‘How should big tech be regulated (if at all?)’ was published on the Financial Times website. The winners, finalists and shortlisted entrants were published on the website and on social media.

Annual Conference

The 2023 conference took place at the University of Glasgow from 3-5 April 2023 and was held in partnership with the Scottish Economic Society. This marked the first in-person RES conference in 2019, before the pandemic. The Society was particularly delighted to be hosted by Glasgow in 2023, this marking 300 years since the birth of Adam Smith. 630 delegates attended online or in-person over the three days. A newly-introduced ticket option combining conference registration and membership accounted for 48% of tickets purchased. 95% of those responding to the delegate survey rated the conference as Excellent or Good (2022: 88%).

The conference received 1,017 paper submissions (2022: 632). The program chairs subsequently selected 400 papers to present at the conference. The programme included our popular lunchtime sessions, with 15 special sessions on topics include Active Bystanding and the impact of Adam Smith’s work on economics. This being a joint conference, delegates enjoyed a larger number of keynote sessions than usual with presentations from Prof. Sir John Vickers, Prof. Dame Carol Propper, Prof. Leah Boustan, Prof. Francis X. Diebold, Prof. Valerie Ramey, Prof. Dani Rodrik, Prof. Silvana Tenreyro, and Dr. Raghuram Rajan.

The introduction of poster sessions as a pilot was a success, with 16 posters presented.

The inaugural RES Award for Service to the Economics Profession was presented to Prof Wendy Carlin by Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli at the Gala Dinner.

Prof. Giovanni Razzu, Conference Secretary, monitored Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) elements and the environmental impact of the conference. All sessions began with a reminder of the RES Code of Conduct. Surplus food from the conference was donated to the Homeless Project Glasgow, whilst a conference app was offered in place of a printed programme.

Discover Economics

The Society continued its support as a Founding Partner alongside The Health Foundation for Discover Economics, a campaign to help change perceptions of economics among young people and attract students from under-represented groups. The Society was delighted to secure extended support from the Bank of England, LSE Hub for Equal Representation and KPMG. In addition financial support was kindly received from Cardiff University, CAGE Research Centre – University of Warwick and the Financial Times.

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The first year of an in-person outreach project, aimed at 15-17 year olds was completed in partnership with 30 universities involving 131 current undergraduate economics students delivering 102 subject specific outreach workshops to 2,794 state school students. Preliminary evaluation of results shows that attending one of the workshops increases the stated likelihood of studying economics by around 13 per cent.

Online events continued with themes including Black History Month; Careers in Economics; International Women’s Day; and Pride in Economics. Additional work commenced with CAGE Research Centre - University of Warwick to deliver educational video content linking economics to history. This series attracted 22k views on YouTube.

The campaign’s social media presence grew with 3.3k followers on Twitter (2022: 2.8k), 2.2k followers on LinkedIn (2022: 1.3k), 0.8k followers on Instagram (2022: 0.6k) and 1.6k followers on TikTok (2022: 1.4k). A fortnightly e-newsletter continued with 2.9k subscribers (2022: 0.9k).

Income Generation

The Trustee Board approve the appointment of a Commercial Director to oversee the Society’s efforts to diversify its income streams and thereby support the long-term sustainability of the organisation. The Board also convened a working group chaired by trustee Kofi Adjepong-Boateng CBE to work alongside the Commercial Director. The group was tasked with identifying the opportunities with the greatest income and which were aligned with the Society's charitable and strategic aims. In late 2023 the Trustee Board approved a series of initiatives to increase income from both existing and new activities. These initiatives will be taken forward from 2024, with regular updates provided to the Board.

Governance matters

Andrew Farrell resigned as Honorary Treasurer on 31 December 2023. Following a Council member vote to fill this Extraordinary Vacancy, Susan Holloway was appointed interim Honorary Treasurer until the 2024 Annual General Meeting.

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FINANCIAL REVIEW

Explanation of the Statement of Financial Activities and the Application of the Society’s Funds

2023 saw a return to more normal conditions after the challenges for the Society’s operations and investments in 2022. Although journal income continued its downward trend, the full return to an in-person conference, in partnership with the Scottish Economic Society, saw excellent attendance. Investments also gained in value.

The net deficit excluding gains on investments was £248k – higher than the £156k deficit in 2022 but lower than the 2023 budget forecast deficit of £516k. Net gains on investments were £306k, compared with losses of £762k in 2022. Total net income for the year was £57k, with a corresponding increase in total funds and reserves.

Total Income in 2023 was £1,521k, an increase of 8% vs 2022 (£1,406k). Income from journals was £939k, a 3% decline vs 2022 (£967k). Membership income increased by 11% as organisations took out group and institutional memberships. Conference income more than quadrupled, with a full return to an in-person meeting. We were very grateful for support to Discover Economics work on increasing awareness of economics and the diversity of students applying to university with significant contributions from the Bank of England, CAGE Research Centre, Health Foundation, KPMG, and the Hub for Equal Representation at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Total Expenditure of £1,770k increased by 13% from 2022 (£1,562k). The most significant increase, as one would expect from the higher attendance, was in Conference costs. Journal expenditure was reduced, as a result of lower sales. Increased expenditure on Membership and Outreach was the result of a return to in-person events and the resumption of member grants following the pandemic.

Statement of Cash Flow

It was expected that the budgeted deficit would require funding by withdrawal of investment funds in the year, and indeed £100k was withdrawn. Cash used by operating activities increased to £264k vs 2022 (£128k). This was moderated by a decrease in both creditors and debtors and was funded by the investment capital withdrawal, as well as interest and dividend income.

Balance Sheet and Use of Assets

Fixed asset movements consist of office equipment and software and are relatively minor.

Funds invested increased to £5,756 from £5,586k after £36k investment charges, divestment of £100K and £306k capital gains, with £160k interest paid to RES bank account.

The £5,756k investments are held in three different portfolios with the same investment manager, Sarasin & Partners. The short-term portfolio value at 31/12/2023 is £384k, the medium-term £1,031k and the long-term £4,340k. The short-term is to support cash requirements in the coming year, the medium-term for years 2 to 5 ahead, and the long-term for the longerterm. The long-term portfolio return objective is inflation plus 4%. At 31st December 2023 it was invested 14% in fixed income, 70% equities, 3.8% property, 9.5% alternatives and 2.7% liquidity (cash).

The total portfolio nominal return in the year was positive, 8.3%. Three and five-year average nominal returns remained positive, at 1.9% and 6.2% respectively.

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Return on investment funds

The returns on funds invested were:

Calendar year Annual income Annual total return Annual total return
One year Three year Five year
2019 2.9% 17.7% 7.3% 8.6%
2020 3.1% 8.4% 6.1% 9.7%
2021 2.8% 7.7% 11.2% 7.6%
2022 2.6% -9.5% 1.9% 3.1%
2023 2.8% 8.3% 1.9% 6.2%

Following the resignation of the Treasurer, the Trustee Board agreed to defer a review of the Society’s Reserves and Investment Policies until a new Treasurer had been appointed.

Significant events since the year end

There have been no significant events since the year end that require reporting.

Reserves policy

The reserves consist of £78k restricted reserves, being unspent external contributions for Discover Economics, £1,300k designated funds and £4,460k general funds. The general funds are in line with the Society’s general funds target of £4.4m. Designated funds are established to provide for 2024 budget deficit, investment in known programmes, and fixed assets and working capital that are not available for general purposes. The Society agreed to keep designated funds at the 2023 level in 2024, pending an in-depth review during the year to ensure alignment with the new Financial Strategy.

Going Concern

The Board of Trustees actively reviews the status of the Society as a going concern each year. As at 31/12/2023 the Society had designated reserves sufficient for budgeted deficit for 2024 and general reserves equivalent to more than 2 years’ expenditure. The Society has no loans, contingent liabilities or finance liabilities other than trade creditors. The Trustees confirm that the RES is a going concern.

Looking forwards

In line with its 2018–2023 strategy the Society budgeted for deficits to bring its historic reserves in line with its target reserves, using the excess of expenditure over income to increase capacity to deliver charitable benefit. In 2023 the Trustee Board agreed a financial strategy for 2024 – 2028 to ensure that by the end of that period charitable expenditures are taking one year with another, wholly funded by current income and return on investments without depletion of reserves.

PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

During 2024 the Society will take forward key initiatives arising from its new strategy. These will include:

ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING RESPONSIBILITIES

The Trustee Board is responsible for preparing the Report of the Charity Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England & Wales and in Scotland requires the Trustee Board to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

12

THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY

The Trustee Board is responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), and the provisions of the Royal Charter. The Trustee Board is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and so for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Practice. The financial statements have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair view’. This departure has involved following Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005 which has since been withdrawn.

………………………………………………… S Holloway Honorary Treasurer On behalf of the Trustee Board

Dated: ……………….. 2024

13

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Royal Economic Society (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on Royal Economic Society's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other Information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

14

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

15

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE ROYAL ECONOMIC SOCIETY

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities . This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity's trustees as a body, in accordance with section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Date Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor 110 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TG

Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

16

The Royal Economic Society

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 December 2023

For theyear ended 31 December 2023
Note
Income from:
2
2
2
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
Reconciliation of funds:
Discover Economics
Annual Conference
Investments
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Membership
Journals
Other Publishing Activities
Raising funds
Total expenditure
Net income / (expenditure) before net
gains / (losses) on investments
Charitable activities
Other Publishing Activities
Membership
Outreach
Annual Conference
Journals
Discover Economics
Outreach
Total funds brought forward
Net gains / (losses) on investments
Net income / (expenditure) for the year
Total funds carried forward
Transfers between funds
Net income / (expenditure) before other
recognised gains and losses		 Unrestricted
£
939,348
2,656
150,306
11,000
181,605
-
160,092		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
76,450
-		 2023
Total
£
939,348
2,656
150,306
11,000
181,605
76,450
160,092
1,521,457
36,333
997,597
2,158
344,886
60,724
231,586
96,670
1,769,954
305,871
57,374
-
57,374
5,780,484
5,837,858
(248,497)		 Unrestricted
£
966,897
2,632
135,924
-
43,967
-
158,225		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
98,526
-		 2022
Total
£
966,897
2,632
135,924
-
43,967
98,526
158,225
1,445,007 76,450 1,307,645 98,526 1,406,171
36,333
997,597
2,158
344,886
60,724
231,586
-		 -
-
-
-
-
-
96,670		 37,093
1,015,192
1,700
302,526
25,979
77,450
-		 -
-
-
-
-
-
102,122		 37,093
1,015,192
1,700
302,526
25,979
77,450
102,122
1,673,284 96,670 1,459,940 102,122 1,562,062
305,871
(228,277)		 -
(20,220)		 (762,417)
(152,295)		 -
(3,596)		 (762,417)
(155,891)
77,594
(28,840)		 (20,220)
28,840		 (914,712)
(49,797)		 (3,596)
49,797		 (918,308)
-
48,754
5,710,846		 8,620
69,638		 (964,509)
6,675,355		 46,201
23,437		 (918,308)
6,698,792
5,759,600 78,258 5,710,846 69,638 5,780,484

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above.

17

The Royal Economic Society

Balance sheet

As at 31 December 2023

As at 31 December 2023 As at 31 December 2023
Note
£
Fixed assets:
11
12
13
Current assets:
14
67,737
228,475
296,212
Liabilities:
15
(280,771)
17
19a
19a
1,300,000
19a
4,459,600
Total unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds
Investments
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
Intangible assets
The funds of the charity:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets
Total net assets
Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Total assets less current liabilities
Net assets excluding pension asset
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
Debtors		 2023
£
5,762
69,254
5,755,630		 £
366,610
233,880		 2022
£
5,725
84,630
5,586,091
5,830,646
15,441		 5,676,446
118,649
296,212
(280,771)		 600,490
(481,841)
1,300,000
4,459,600		 1,300,000
4,410,846
5,846,087
(8,229)		 5,795,095
(14,611)
5,837,858 5,780,484
5,837,858 5,780,484
78,258
5,759,600		 69,638
5,710,846
5,837,858 5,780,484

Approved by the trustees on and signed on their behalf by

S Holloway Honorary Treasurer

18

The Royal Economic Society

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 December 2023

For the year ended 31 December 2023
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Depreciation charges
Amortisation charges
(Gains)/losses on investments
Dividends, interest and rent from investments
Portfolio management fees
(Profit)/loss on the disposal of fixed assets
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents and of net debt
Cash at bank and in hand
Total cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Purchase of fixed assets
Proceeds from sale of investments
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year		 £
£
57,374
1,866
15,376
(305,871)
(160,092)
36,333
-
298,873
(207,452)
(263,593)
160,092
(1,903)
100,000
258,189
(5,404)
233,880
228,475
At 1 January
2023
Cash flows
£
£
233,880
(5,404)
2023		 £
£
(918,308)
1,516
15,377
762,417
(158,225)
37,093
340
109,874
22,016
2022
(263,593)
258,189		 158,225
(2,420)
-		 (127,900)
155,805
At 1 January
2023
£
233,880		 Other non-
cash
changes
£
-
(5,404)
233,880		 27,905
205,975
228,475 233,880

Cash flows
£
(5,404)
At 31
December
2023
£
228,475
233,880 (5,404) - 228,475

19

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

1 Accounting policies

a) Statutory information

Royal Economic Society is a charitable royal charter company and is incorporated in England.

The principal place of business is 2 Dean Trench Street

The presentation currency of the financial statements is in Pound Sterling (£).

b) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

In applying the financial reporting framework, the trustees have made a number of subjective judgements, for example in respect of significant accounting estimates. Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. The nature of the estimation means the actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. Any significant estimates and judgements affecting these financial statements are detailed within the relevant accounting policy below.

Key judgements that the charity has made which have a significant effect on the accounts include the depreciation expense estimated on an annual basis based on the depreciation charges assigned to the individual class of asset.

c) Public benefit entity

The charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, and make this assessment in respect of a period of at least one year from the date of approval of the financial statements. The Royal Economic society holds significant reserves and has liquid assets in the form of investments which are readily available to convert into cash. Annual budgets are produced with prudent figures for both income and expenditure.

e) Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Subscriptions begin at the point of payment and are accounted for on an accruals basis

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

f) Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

g) Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.

20

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

h) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

i) Grants payable

Grants payable are made to third parties in furtherance of the charity's objects. Single or multi-year grants are accounted for when either the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and the trustees have agreed to pay the grant without condition, or the recipient has a reasonable expectation that they will receive a grant and that any condition attaching to the grant is outside of the control of the charity.

Provisions for grants are made when the intention to make a grant has been communicated to the recipient but there is uncertainty about either the timing of the grant or the amount of grant payable.

j) Allocation of support costs

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the following basis which are an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity.

Where information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is provided to potential beneficiaries, the costs associated with this publicity are allocated to charitable expenditure.

Where such information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is also provided to potential donors, activity costs are apportioned between fundraising and charitable activities on the basis of area of literature occupied by each activity.

Journals 57%
Other Publishing Activities 0%
Membership 20%
Outreach 3%
Annual Conference 13%
Discover Economics 6%

Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

k) Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

l) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £500. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Where fixed assets have been revalued, any excess between the revalued amount and the historic cost of the asset will be shown as a revaluation reserve in the balance sheet.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

 Equipment 25% reducing balance  Software 10 years

m) Listed investments

Investments are a form of basic financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently measured at their fair value as at the balance sheet date using the closing quoted market price. Any change in fair value will be recognised in the statement of financial activities. Investment gains and losses, whether realised or unrealised, are combined and shown in the heading “Net gains/(losses) on investments” in the statement of financial activities. The charity does not acquire put options, derivatives or other complex financial instruments.

21

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

n) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

o) Cash at bank and in hand

p) Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

q) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

r) Defined Contribution Plans - Pension Scheme

Contributions to defined contribution pension schemes are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as incurred.

2 Income from charitable activities

2
Income from charitable activities
Economic Journal
Sales of current volume to non-members
Sales of back numbers, royalties and misc
Submission fees
Sub-total for Economic Journal
Econometrics Journal
Subscriptions
Sales of back numbers, rights and permission
Sub-total for Econometrics Journal
Sub-total for total journal income
Publishing Activities
From Publishers
Sub-total for Other Publishing Activities
Discover Economics
Grants
Gift Aid Donations
Sub-total for Discover Economics
3
Income from investments
Dividends receivable from investments
and unit trusts
Total income from charitable activities		 Unrestricted
£
665,627
26,582
162,130		 £
-
-
-
Restricted		 2023
Total
£
665,627
26,582
162,130		 Unrestricted
£
687,887
21,443
164,177		 £
-
-
-
Restricted		 2022
Total
£
687,887
21,443
164,177
854,339
83,212
1,797		 -
-
-		 854,339
83,212
1,797		 873,507
91,161
2,229		 -
-
-		 873,507
91,161
2,229
85,009 - 85,009 93,390 - 93,390
939,348
2,656		 -
-		 939,348
2,656		 966,897
2,632		 -
-		 966,897
2,632
2,656
-
-		 -
76,450
-		 2,656
76,450
-		 2,632
-
-		 -
98,350
176		 2,632
98,350
176
- 76,450 76,450 - 98,526 98,526
942,004 76,450 1,018,454 969,529 98,526 1,068,055
Unrestricted
£
160,092		 £
-
Restricted		 2023
Total
£
160,092		 Unrestricted
£
158,225		 £
-
Restricted		 2022
Total
£
158,225
160,092 - 160,092 158,225 - 158,225

22

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Charitable activities

Portfolio Management
Editor and Editorial Services
Retained by Publisher
Other Direct Costs
Support Costs
RES Contribution
Management costs
Governance costs (note 6)
Total expenditure 2023
Total expenditure 2022		 Raising
funds
£
36,333
-
-
-		 Economic
Journal
£
-
320,000
119,075
135,025		 Econometrics
Journal
£
-
53,500
14,848
40,726		 Other
Publishing
Activities
£
-
-
-
1,521		 Membership
£
-
4,635
-
32,340		 Outreach
£
-
-
-
2,581		 Annual
Conference
£
-
-
-
158,906		 Discover
Economics
£
-
-
-
-
-
66,014
2,145
27,459
1,052
96,670
102,122		 2023
Total
£
36,333
378,135
133,923
371,099		 2022
Total
£
37,093
371,470
140,250
244,798
36,333
-
-
-
-		 574,100
19,580
-
239,173
9,172		 109,074
614
-
44,189
1,695		 1,521
-
-
613
24		 36,975
3,682
8,233
295,349
647		 2,581
11,944
28,290
17,248
661		 158,906
4,376
-
65,781
2,523		 919,490
106,210
38,668
689,812
15,774		 793,611
116,696
42,617
580,674
28,464
36,333 842,025 155,572 2,158 344,886 60,724 231,586 1,769,954 1,562,062
37,093 828,937 186,255 1,700 302,526 25,979 77,450

23

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

4b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

Charitable activities

Portfolio Management
Editor and Editorial Services
Retained by Publisher
Other Direct Costs
Support Costs
RES Contribution
Management costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2022		 Raising
funds
£
37,093
-
-
-
37,093
-
-
-
37,093		 Economic
Journal
£
-
303,750
123,841
126,346		 Econometrics
Journal
£
-
61,540
16,409
52,734		 Other
Publishing
Activities
£
-
-
-
1,195		 Membership
£
-
6,180
-
20,943		 Outreach
£
-
-
-
1,437		 Annual
Conference
£
-
-
-
42,143		 Discover
Economics
£
-
-
-
-
-
71,775
-
29,278
1,069
102,122		 2022
Total
£
37,093
371,470
140,250
244,798
553,937
28,668
-
237,657
8,675		 130,683
224
-
53,399
1,949		 1,437
15
16,807
7,448
272		 42,143
12,291
-
22,205
811		 793,611
116,696
42,617
580,674
28,464
828,937 186,255 1,700 302,526 25,979 77,450 1,562,062

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

5a Grant making (current year)

Grant making (current year)
Outreach
Institutional grants - International Economic Association
Institutional grants - Academy of Social Sciences
Membership
Conference Grant Scheme
Special Project Grant Scheme
Knowledge Transfer Projects Scheme
Research Dissemination Grant Scheme
At the end of the year
Cost
Diversity
Competitions and awards
Third Party Events		 Grants to
institutions
£
-
-
2,611
1,760
-
-
-
-
-
Grants to
individuals
£
20,700
12,500
-
-
3,219
7,821
-
1,500
9,260
Support costs
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 2023
£
20,700
12,500
2,611
1,760
3,219
7,821
-
1,500
9,260		 2022
£
4,029
7,775
728
1,069
2,321
5,741
(1,250)
-
2,606
4,371 55,000 - 59,371 23,019

5b Grant making (prior year)

Grant making (prior year)
Grants to Grants to Support costs
institutions individuals 2022 2021
£ £ £ £ £
Cost
Outreach
Diversity - 4,029 - 4,029 7,248
Competitions and awards - 7,775 - 7,775 12,509
Institutional grants - Economics Network - - - - 10,000
Institutional grants - International Economic Association 728 - - 728 1,503
Institutional grants - Academy of Social Sciences 1,069 - - 1,069 1,510
Third Party Events - 2,321 - 2,321 2,887
Membership
Conference grant scheme - 5,741 - 5,741 1,238
Small budget scheme - - - - (670)
Special Project Grant Scheme - (1,250) - (1,250) (4,426)
Research Dissemination Grant Scheme - 2,606 - 2,606 -
At the end of the year 1,797 21,222 - 23,019 31,800

6 Governance costs

Governance costs
Legal Fees
Audit fees (excluding VAT)
Audit fees - underprovision for previous year (excluding VAT)
Professional fees
Council and committee Costs		 2023
£
-
11,400
1,100
1,649
13,196		 2022
£
2,215
9,300
-
6,900
10,050
27,345 28,465

Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages
Redundancy and termination costs
Social security costs
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
Other forms of employee benefits		 2023
£
480,850
-
45,864
43,082
4,482		 2022
£
410,024
12,521
42,356
37,307
2,792
574,278 505,000

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) during the year between:

2023 2022
No. No.
£80,000 - £89,999 1 1

25

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel (the chief executive, operations manager and commercial director) were £208,113 (2022: £215,581).

The charity trustees were neither paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2022: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2022: £nil).

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £737 (2022: £891) incurred by 4 (2021: 7) members relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees.

8 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 12 (2022: 10).

9 Related party transactions

Professor Nicholas Crafts is a Trustee Board member of the Royal Economic Society and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). NIESR owns 2 Dean Trench Street, where the Royal Economic Society rents office space at market value.

Tom Aldred is a Trustee of the RES and an employee of the Government Economic Service. Swati Dhingra is a Trustee of the RES and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England. The Government Economic Service and the Bank of England are both institutional members of the RES. Neither trustee has been involved in discussions between the parties on institutional membership, and both trustees have recused themselves from any Board decisions which may have presented a conflict.

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

10 Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

11 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
At the end of the year
At the end of the year
Depreciation
At the start of the year
All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.
Cost
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the start of the year
Additions in year
At the end of the year
Net book value		 Computer
equipment
£
11,419
1,903
13,322
5,694
1,866
7,560
5,762
5,725		 Total
£
11,419
1,903
13,322
5,694
1,866
7,560
5,762
5,725

26

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

12 Intangible fixed assets

Intangible fixed assets
At the end of the year
Charge for the year
At the end of the year
Depreciation
Cost
At the start of the year
At the start of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year		 Software
£
153,763
153,763
69,133
15,376
84,509
69,254
84,630		 Total
£
153,763
153,763
69,133
15,376
84,509
69,254
84,630
13
Settlement of fees
Long Term - Asset Allocation
Short Term - Asset Allocation
Cost
14
15
Deferred income - conference income
Deferred income - grants
Deferred income - memberships (I year)
Publishing debtor
Listed investments
Medium Term - Asset Allocation
Cash
Sarasin & Partners
Investments comprise:
Disposal proceeds
Fair value at the end of the year
Fair value at the start of the year
Additions at cost
Accruals
Cash held by investment broker pending reinvestment
Trade debtors
Prepayments
Debtors
Net gain / (loss) on change in fair value
Taxation and social security
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Deferred income - menberships (3 years) (note 16)
Trade creditors
Other creditors		 2023
£
5,586,091
-
(100,000)
305,871
(36,332)		 2022
£
6,385,601
-
-
(762,417)
(37,093)
5,755,630
-		 5,586,091
-
5,755,630 5,586,091
2023
£
4,339,516
1,031,120
384,065
929		 2022
£
4,100,271
1,013,954
465,596
6,270
5,755,630 5,586,091
5,579,833
2023
£
960
40,777
26,000		 5,673,848
2022
£
17,661
45,781
303,168
67,737 366,610
2023
£
114,240
15,101
3,317
54,187
41,306
24,780
5,000
22,840		 2022
£
98,076
12,784
1,097
327,280
19,460
-
-
23,144
280,771 481,841

~~27~~

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

16 Deferred income - Memberships (3 years)

Deferred income comprises of 3 year membership subscriptions

Deferred income comprises of 3 year membership subscriptions
Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year		 2023
£
23,144
(23,144)
22,840		 2022
£
15,014
(15,014)
23,144
22,840 23,144

The deferred income is included within the creditors liability but separated out for the purpose of explaining the reason for the deferred income. As the memberships span 3 years a proportion of this is represented as a creditor due after one year (see note 17).

17 Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Total restricted funds
Total designated funds
General funds:
Long term liabilities
Investments
Net current assets
Deferred income - Memberships (3 years)
Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)
Net assets at 31 December 2023
Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)
Investments
Net current assets
Restricted funds:
Discover Economics
Long term liabilities
Movements in funds (current year)
Investment Reserve
Fixed Asset Reserve
Working Capital Reserve
Programme Investment Reserve
Budgeted Deficit
Fixed assets
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Net assets at 31 December 2022
Total funds
Fixed assets
Total unrestricted funds		 At 1 January
2023
£
69,638		 General
unrestricted
£
(14,984)
4,545,630
(62,817)
(8,229)
Designated
£
90,000
1,210,000
-
-		 2023
£
8,229		 2022
£
14,611
8,229 14,611
Restricted
£
-
-
78,258
-		 Total funds
£
75,016
5,755,630
15,441
(8,229)
4,459,600 1,300,000 78,258 5,837,858
General
unrestricted
£
355
4,386,091
39,011
(14,611)
Designated
£
90,000
1,210,000
-
-		 Restricted
£
-
-
69,638
-		 Total funds
£
90,355
5,596,091
108,649
(14,611)
4,410,846 1,300,000 69,638 5,780,484

Income &
gains
£
76,450
Expenditure
& losses
£
(96,670)
Transfers
£
28,840		 At 31
December
2023
£
78,258
69,638 76,450 (96,670) 28,840 78,258
90,000
210,000
500,000
500,000		 305,871
-
-
-
-		 (36,332)
-
-
-
-		 (269,539)
-
-
-
-		 -
90,000
210,000
500,000
500,000
1,300,000 305,871 (36,332) (269,539) 1,300,000
4,410,846 1,445,007 (1,636,951) 240,699 4,459,600
5,710,846 1,750,878 (1,673,283) (28,840) 5,759,600
5,780,484 1,827,328 (1,769,953) () 5,837,858

18a Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)

18b Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)

19a Movements in funds (current year)

The narrative to explain the purpose of each fund is given at the foot of the note below.

28

The Royal Economic Society

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Movements in funds (prior year)
Total restricted funds
Total designated funds
General funds
Restricted funds:
Total unrestricted funds
Fixed Asset Reserve
Working Capital Reserve
Programme Investment Reserve
Discover Economics
Unrestricted funds:
Budgeted Deficit
Designated funds:
Investment Reserve
Total funds		 At 1 January
2022
£
23,437
Income &
gains
£
98,526
Expenditure
& losses
£
(102,122)
Transfers
£
49,797		 At 31
December
2022
£
69,638
23,437 98,526 (102,122) 49,797 69,638
-
100,000
200,000
1,000,000
300,000		 -
-
-
-
-		 (799,510)
-
-
-
-		 799,510
(10,000)
10,000
(500,000)
200,000		 -
90,000
210,000
500,000
500,000
1,600,000 - (799,510) 499,510 1,300,000
5,075,356 1,307,645 (1,422,848) (549,307) 4,410,846
6,675,356 1,307,645 (2,222,358) (49,797) 5,710,846
6,698,793 1,406,171 (2,324,480) 5,780,484

Purposes of restricted funds

Discover Economics - Discover Economics is a RES campaign aimed at changing perceptions of economics among young people and attracting students from under-represented groups.

Purposes of designated funds

Purposes of general funds

20 Operating lease commitments payable as a lessee

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods

Less than one year
One to five years		 2023
2022
£
£
36,169
24,543
73,758
1,210
Property		 2023
2022
£
£
36,169
24,543
73,758
1,210
Property
109,927 25,753

A new lease was signed after the year end on 21 February 2024. The lease has been agreed for the next 3 years covering the period 19 January 2024 - 18 January 2027.

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The individual members or Trustees are not obligated to pay anything in the event of the Society winding up.

29