Joint parish councils, accounts, 2009

The joint parish councils’ operating accounts had satisfactory results in 2009. The gross operating surplus was NOK 167 million, or 4.7 per cent of operating revenues. The total operating revenues increased by 10.6 per cent, whereas the total operating expenses increased by 8.9 per cent.

Higher net operating surplus

Operating revenues increased by NOK 335 million from 2008, to NOK 3 496 million in 2009.  Subsidiaries from the local municipalities accounted for 60.7 per cent of the total operating revenues. Income from transfers and refunds made up almost 18.7 per cent, while revenues originating from sales, fees, rents and other operating revenues accounted for 7.4 per cent. The distribution of income has not changed significantly since 2004.

Operating expenses increased by NOK 274 million, and amounted to NOK 3 329 million in 2009.  Payroll expenses is the single most important item of the expenses and constituted 62.6 per cent of the operating expenses. Payroll expenses and expenses for goods and services accounted for 88 per cent of the operating expenses.

Net operating surplus was NOK 153 million in 2009, an increase of NOK 41 million compared to 2008.

The operating expenses for joint parish councils were as follows; church maintenance accounted for 37 per cent of the total operating expenses, cemeteries 16 per cent and church administration 31 per cent. The remaining 16 per cent was related to other activities connected to the churches.

Increase in investments

Investments in tangible fixed assets amounted to NOK 645 million in 2009, NOK 94 million more than in 2008. Almost 88 per cent of the total investments were financed by funds, grants and financial contributions, while new loans amounted to 12 per cent or NOK 80 million.

In total, 73 per cent of the investments were related to churches and 18 per cent to cemeteries.

Balance sheet

Total assets administered by the joint parish councils in 2009 amounted to NOK 7.4 billion. This was an increase of about 16.2 per cent compared to 2008. The increase in total assets since 2004 has been NOK 2 500 million.

Long-term liabilities in 2009 represented 5.2 per cent of total assets. This equals to an increase of NOK 16 million compared to 2008.

The net finance changed drastically in 2009 compared to 2008. In 2009 the net finance had a negative result of NOK 14 million, whereas in 2008 the result was a positive - NOK 10 million. The change resulted from less shares and higher instalment on loans. Shares and income from interest amounted to about NOK 26 Millions in 2009, compared to NOK 54 million in.

Tables:

• Table 1 Financial statement
• Table 2 Balance sheet
• Table 3 Total operating expenses by purpose
• Table 4 Total investments by purpose