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Treasurer's Report for financial year The finances of the Association continue in a very healthy state, thanks to the continuing success of the journal. Under the agreement with OUP, the Association receives a proportion of subscription income (subscription to the journal being the means by which individuals become members of the Association), and also shares with the publisher in any profit the journal makes. The Association therefore has very practical interests in the success of the journal as well as its academic ones. The Association has continued to seek ways to exploit the good financial situation to further its goals, although progress has been slower than intended in some areas. However, the new Bursary scheme, to assist young scholars to attend and present papers at the annual joint conference, is now well established. The 1997 balance sheet includes the one award made at the Kingston conference (noted in last year's Treasurer's Report). For the 1998 conference, all five of the available awards have been made, which is excellent news. These awards will be reflected in the 1998 accounts. The Roberto Busa Award is another scheme that has been under development for some time. It is a joint award with the Association for Computers and the Humanities, and its purpose is to recognize significant achievements in the humanities computing fields. The first such award, presented at the 1998 conference in Debrecen, is to Father Roberto Busa himself. The award will be presented every three years. In addition, the Committee is still considering schemes to provide limited support for workshops and courses, certain types of projects, and perhaps for some form of student prize. Other suggestions are welcome, and may be made to any member of the Committee. As reported last year, the Committee decided, with the backing of the Annual General Meeting of the Association, that with the journal now making a clear profit, and in view of the importance of ensuring that it continues to be successful, it is appropriate for the Association to make a regular contribution to the secretarial and administrative load carried by the Editor and Assistant Editor. The first such payments were made in 1997, and this expenditure 'line' therefore appears for the first time in the 1997 accounts. Payments to the Association from OUP in respect of the journal are staged to some extent, and the final settlement is not made until five months or more after the end of the year to which it relates. The financial report presented at a given conference contains the Association accounts for the preceding calendar year, but in turn these accounts reflect the journal income of the year before that. Hence the 1998 conference is presented with the 1997 accounts, whose journal income is largely that for the 1996 journal (Volume 11). However, one of the stage payments went astray in 1997, so the balance sheet shows a creditor of £750. This is still under investigation by OUP. The accounts also show a 'Special conference costs' item, which reflects the decision of the Committee to invite the outgoing Editor of the journal, Gordon Dixon, to attend the 1997 conference as its guest of honour, in recognition of his years of service to the Association. Jean Anderson/Harold Short
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