880.000 SEK deficit. That was the result of The Social Sciences Student Union’s financial year of 2012-13.
Archive photo: Jens Hunt.
The Social Sciences Student Union’s economy is bleeding. The presented balancing of the books for 2012-13 show a loss of almost 900.000 SEK. The planned budget showed an expected deficit of 225.000 SEK, an estimate that overshot its target by far when the deficit ended up being 879.976 SEK. The way the union has handled the economy has been inadequate, says Ludvig Sundin, the current chairperson of The Social Sciences Student Union.
“The economy hasn’t been handled properly. The union hasn’t kept track of all the spendings,” he explains.
What has caused this large deficit?
“There are a number of factors. For example, miscalculated budget items. The payroll tax was more expensive than imagined, but the budget wasn’t corrected. The follow-up on the economical factors has been bad,” Ludvig Sundin says.
Loss due to information activities
The large difference between the estimated result and the actual result in the budget has been caused by things like carelessness when the budget was calculated and when estimating costs. There was a loss on the entry “information activity” that surpassed the estimated loss with roughly 75 percent, representing 115.000 SEK. Many of the arrangements that were held did not stick to the planned budget and ended up very expensive.
“We have a capital we can use. Right now our total capital is about 1.3 million SEK,” Ludvig Sundin says.
“Having this kind of deficit isn’t possible in the long run. This capital that we’re using is working assets. You need a buffer, but we can’t have any more deficits of this size.”
Have the responsible been given freedom from responsibility?
“They’ve been given freedom from responsibility from the student union’s representative assembly,” Ludvig Sundin says.
The banquet was no blockbuster
One entry that ended up in the red was the union banquet Carpe Conscientam. The band Discoteka Yugostyle was hired to attract visitors to the annual, boosted banquet. But they didn’t turn out to be a blockbuster. The visitors did not show up, but one thing that did was the band’s invoice of 37.500 SEK.
“The band was supposed to attract people, but that didn’t produce enough profit,” Ludvig Sundin explains.
“The future looks brighter”
Since the union has been informed of this disheartening result, some structural changes have been made. A book-keeping agency has been hired, among other things. This has been done to streamline the increasingly extensive economical undertakings.
“The future definitely looks brighter. We’ve analyzed the handling of the economy, and we have better control. We’ve double-checked the budget and revised what needed revising,” says chairperson Ludvig Sundin.
Text: Casper Danielsson
Translation: Marie Eriksson
