We are grateful to chartered accountant Kevin Thompson from preparing our financial report for this year.

The report shows that the magazine has performed satisfactorily this financial year helped by the generosity of subscribers and friends and the prudent management of Ann Hassan.

The report shows that we have a deficit of $12,765 in the 2021-2022 financial year — but note that the surplus in the previous financial year of $11,088 was mostly due to a Ministry for Culture and Heritage grant. 

The Deficit

There are a number of reasons for this deficit: 

We've seen a reduction in Government support as compared with the beginning of the pandemic (reflected in the 2020-2021 financial year). 

It is in the 2021-2022 financial year that the full impact of extending subscriptions during lockdowns has been felt. 

Our "two-for-one" Christmas Gift promotion meant that we posted issues in the last portion of the financial year with no corresponding income — but this is one of our promotional efforts. 

And, more so than in previous years, we have seen increases in postage, production, salary costs which affect the cost of production and overheads. 

Finally, we continue to see a decline in parish sales, partly due to church closures during lockdowns but it also continues a pre-pandemic trend.

Encouragement for Future

However, we see encouraging signs for the future. Our core revenue — New Zealand subscriptions and overseas subscriptions — is up from the previous year, despite the issues mentioned above. 

Advertising revenue has increased substantially (to an all-time high), reflecting our efforts to secure new advertisers. 

Certainly the pandemic has affected our financial position, but by focusing our efforts on increasing our subscriber base, we aim to ensure healthy revenue next year and beyond.