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One has to take into account that the accounts refer to the 2021/2 season which was only slightly impacted by the Covid pandemic. Normal income streams therefore returned and one would expect financial figures to be improved from the previous Covid ravaged season. But they are not. There is much to be concerned about. The accounts show a loss before tax of £835K and net current liabilities (debt) of £1.71M which is up a staggering 70% from the previous year and from the last Covid free year in 2018/9 Whilst the new auditors accept that the Club Directors are right to proceed on a going concern basis given the stated plans for addressing the financial position, they do have "material concerns" about the position. Yngwie explains the position very well above. One also has to question why the club felt it necessary to appoint new auditors. The report states that the financial projections are reliant on uncertain sources of income and operational cost savings. The club will presumably not make operational cost savings if it pays more on player wages. Clearly projections would be altered in the unlikely event of us getting promoted, but assuming we don't, then there seems to be little chance we can offer much to encourage players like Robbie Deas to sign a new contract or to bring experienced and proven players in. It also states "the company remains reliant on player trading, new funding streams and the continued financial support of its directors, shareholders and supporters". Just where is the prospect of making decent sums for player trading just now? Much of our squad will be out of contract at the end of the season and can simply sign for another club with us receiving nothing. If what STFU says is correct and 3 current Directors have already in effect resigned, then that is extremely worrying unless their departure is linked with the arrival of others who can put in significantly more money than the retiring directors have in the past - and they have put in quite a bit. The continued support of shareholders is far from guaranteed when the club is in blatant breach of its Articles of Association having failed to hold an AGM since September 2021. There has been no AGM since the previous year's accounts were published last February and they, like the 2021/2 accounts just published, were submitted to Companies House on the absolute deadline for submission. The continued support of supporters is also far from guaranteed when crowds are clearly falling and many season ticket holders are saying that they are unlikely to renew for next season. If the Club wants to galvanise the fans in support of the Club, then it should be looking to work constructively with the Supporters Trust. Sadly, it only engages grudgingly and fails to capitalise on what the Trust could do if only supporters could see the Club working constructively with the Trust. It is unfortunate that the accounts have been submitted to Companies House without any statement on the Club's official website. This again shows contempt for shareholders and supporters. Perhaps now that the submission has been made, there will be a statement and a date set for the AGM, but in the meantime, the Club has to understand that their lack of communication, their lateness in filing the accounts, the change in auditor and their failure to hold an AGM in due time, all point to a suspicion that they have something to hide. The football club doesn't belong to the Directors and the management, it belongs to the shareholders and the fans. We will still be here long after they have gone. Despite the Club's long term distancing themselves from the shareholders and supporters, there still remains a lot of goodwill towards the club - but it is palpably disappearing. If the current Directors and management want to benefit from the goodwill which remains and re-kindle that which it has lost, they need to change their ways and change them soon. Either that or make way for others who actually understand that the supporters are the heart and soul of the football club. The accounts for 2021/2 and for previous years, together with other documents can be viewed on the Companies House website.

Yes, I know it’s been a very long time since I’ve posted on here…life has taken a few different directions, but I did remember my password! What’s prompted me to post now is this extremely articulate and very well informed thread on a topic I’ve followed with great interest since even before the club existed as a supporter, a journalist and for the last 26 years, a shareholder as well - its finances. Moving on from that rather lengthy reintroduction, I must say that I’m rather astonished that today’s lengthy club statement of around 800 words makes no admission whatsoever of the specifics of what’s looking like an ever deepening financial crisis, as revealed yesterday by external parties. Headline items here include losses increasing 3.5 fold to £835K… deeper in hock to HMRC and trade creditors… 64% fall in net assets, large increase in staff to 92 and the auditors slapping a “going concern” notice on the accounts. These details were only revealed through Companies House yesterday, the company’s deadline for filing there, and picked up by the media… all before shareholders and supporters have been told by the club. And this information vacuum, given the absence of any financial detail in that statement, remains the case unless a calling notice is on its way for an AGM which, according to the company’s articles of association, became overdue on 21st December last year.(EDIT - AGM now called for 28.3.22.) There has been such a delay with these accounts that the information they contain is now nine months out of date, which is a long time when financial fortunes are in freefall. Has the situation got even worse? In 2021 we were told that concerts were going to be the financial Messiah… and then the concert company collapsed. What are the implications of that, because even though the Concertco was a legally separate company from the FC, although both its directors were also FC directors, there must be reputational and other issues to consider and other apsects to scrutinise. And what are the specifics of these “land” arrangements and “battery farm”? Someone in an earlier post (and it’s great to see so many of the “usual suspects” of years gone by still contributing magnificently on this forum!) suggested that ICT hasn’t had a boost from benefactors like Ross County. I’m not sure if I totally agree with that and would start with Ian Fraser’s £330K in 1996 and continue through a multi-faceted £3-ish million from Tullochs, several hundred thousand from Muirfield Mills, part of a million in new capital that appeared during 2018-19 etc etc. Then there’s goodness know a how much in loans and donations just to keep the club solvent and it’s all gone simply to sustain a long term underlying loss situation. This club has therefore had substantial external assistance but still finds itself in the financial plight described in these nine month old accounts…. or possibly worse. However any insight provided to fans, shareholders etc has been very limited. Meanwhile one major current issue is why (EDIT now called for 28.3.23.) is why the deadline was so lengthily missed for an AGM where shareholders can require the board to shed some light on what appears to be an increasingly alarming situation?

Have faith guys! Once the battery farm is done, the concert monies taken, the freeport established, hospitality opened, the West Stand roofed, the community facilities completed, the monorail built and the injured players back we will be a force to be reckoned with in Scottish Football once again! ️ #InGardinerWeTrust

Its hard to know where to start having read through the accounts! Ok we all know that football clubs have a hard time to balance the books, but these seem to go beyond that. Personally, I do think Scot Gardiner, if in not wholly responsible for this mess, then a good part responsible. Last years accounts were signed off with the promise of funding coming via the concerts, this was spearheaded by SG and we all know the mess we ended up in thanks to that. Not only did it not make any money for the club but the damage it did to the reputation of the club with the local businesses will take a long time to heal. SG was brought in to the club to basically manage the non-football side of the business and although the club were making losses prior to his arrival, was that not the whole point of investing in a CEO to reverse these losses? Now this years pie in the sky to get the accounts signed off is Red John and a battery farm. But there does not seem to be any time frames for when or even if these ventures will ever show any income for the football club. Yesterday when the accounts went into the public domain, it would have been good if the club had issued a statement to explain things, reassure the fans, explain a bit more about all these things that are supposed to be happening to keep the club trading. The silence from the club is just as worrying than the actual accounts.

We can't say we weren't warned about Scot Gardiner.

Idiots guide to the going concern stuff in the accounts: - The directors believe the club can survive for at least 12 months from now and have prepared cash flow forecasts that support that view. - The auditors reviewed those projections and the assumptions within them, and agree that the club can be considered a going concern. - However, they caveat this by drawing attention to ‘material uncertainty’ on this, because there is doubt as to whether the club will achieve its projections. This uncertainty could be, for example, because anticipated new income streams might be delayed or not materialise at all, or any of the other assumptions in the forecasts might fall a bit short and that could be sufficient to leave the club without enough money to meet its liabilities. This material uncertainty matter was in last years accounts too. - The auditors also noted that they understand that the directors will continue to provide financial support to the club when necessary. There is nothing to suggest that there are any binding commitments/guarantees from the directors though, but the directors would have to be very brave or stupid to do so, so that’s hardly a surprise.

The supporters deserve and need unabbreviated accounts, too much is shady in what has been published. Smearing the actualities with club statements and an AGM simply won’t cut it.

That's true, but there is no doubt that our situation is getting progressively worse and there is no sign of the club doing anything other than produce some vague assurances over projects which may or may not bring some money into the club. In the meantime, the club ignores the fact that we also have some distinct advantages over other clubs both in and out of the championship. The population of Inverness is bigger than or on a par with many of the sides both in the Championship and the Premiership. Many of those clubs also have the disadvantage of either other big clubs being located in the same town/city (Queens Park) or being close to other towns with well established clubs (Hamilton). Inverness is a growing city with a population of roughly 70,000 and a pretty wide catchment area beyond that. Regardless of the vagaries of who locally chooses to put significant money into what club, we have the potential to pull in bigger crowds and attract individuals to support the club in other ways. The club likes to brand itself as a family club, but it seems to be the sort of family where family members never speak to each other. Without the kind of substantial long term financial support our neighbours across the bridge have enjoyed, it is particularly important that the club reaches out to the supporters and the wider local community. It should be said that the Club's Community Trust does a wonderful job, but far from trying to integrate itself as a pivotal part of the City's fabric, the football club seems, if anything, to be alienating itself from the community which is its life blood. Nobody is saying it is easy to attract bigger crowds, but that shouldn't stop us trying. It also means the Club should do all it can to stop even more of its long term fans from drifting away.

We haven't started losing money since Gardiner arrived. It's been an issue before his time as well. Granted some of the schemes to generate additional revenue outside of football, whilst admirable, have largely fallen completely flat and "core" revenue generation methods (i.e. supporters) have been forgotten about or neglected leading to an utterly desperate situation but he's not the only person to blame here (though I think a lot does fall on his shoulders). Hard to see anything other than part time football for us in the next year or so.

I'll try to sleep well................. There is absolutely nothing remotely positive at the club just now. Complete mis-management on and off field since we won the cup.

Spot on NJ. I find the minimalism associated with this whole affair very unacceptable. The excerpts from the accounts don’t even give profit and loss and to find the loss you have to scour the notes. This also means that there’s no indication of the vital parameter of turnover, which hence also prevents anyone from working out what the loss is as a percentage of expenditure or turnover which I think is quite important. Then there’s today’s verbose statement which is most notable for its attempts to create a smokescreen obscuring what really matters. I am absolutely astonished that a statement made on behalf of the Chairman 24 hours after the account details have leaked out via parties unconnected with the club should fail even to have an acknowledgement of how big the loss is. The statement failed to take ownership of extremely adverse circumstances which, as I write, the club itself has not yet acknowledged. And then there’s the first revelation of the date of the overdue AGM which appears incidentally to something else, and half way through this wordy statement. This doesn’t exactly make it very easy to obtain information about what’s clearly a critical situation.

The Club has now also posted its Confirmation Statement on the Companies House website. This list all the shareholders together with the number of shares they hold.

Can you still purchase shares? I’m looking to put in £1000.

Cheers DD. Post edited accordingly. I must have missed that in the statement …. not difficult in 800 words where a revelation of what is one of the key, urgent club issues of the day - the date of its very overdue AGM - appears about 400 words in and in a context which is incidental to an arrangement with a land management concern. I therefore look forward as a shareholder to receiving notification of this meeting and attendant documentation by Tuesday 7th March. I’ve got to say that I find this statement a slightly baffling way of communicating. As I see it, there are two items of information needing urgently and clearly communicated - the club’s financial details and a date for a very overdue AGM - but one is omitted completely while the other is obscured in the bowels of an extremely wordy statement.

I think success on the field covered up a multitude of issues. This goes back more than 20 years. In 2002 Tullochs proposed a share issue which meant the club recieved an investment of £500,000. We had a good team at that point anyway and the further investment meant we could build a team that eventually got promoted. We also had two consecutive runs to the Scottish cup semi-final and the package we got from our manager leaving to go to Aberdeen. We then had five seasons in the top flight where revenues are much higher, our crowds were higher, we got TV money, we had big away supports. We also managed to sell a few players and managers and stay on an even keel. We then got relegated in 2009 and the board took a gamble at the time. They trusted Butcher with coming back up and took a big loss on that season - I thinkwe lost well over £500k that year but it worked and we were promoted again. The Butcher model then established us in the top flight and built a new team that was our most successful ever - top six finishes, cup finals, cup wins etc. That was dismantled remarkably quickly by appointing a manager who wasn't up to it and then firing him too late. We've essentially now been set adrift, making massive losses, not being able to build a team good enough to challange for promotion (last season was the closest we've got to going back up). That statement kind of sums it all up - we are relying on increasing off the field revenues, mention made of vague plans - doesn't fill me with hope. All clubs are looking to do this stuff and is there any evidence that our board are going to be able to produce revenue streams that wipe out the regular six figure losses we make? Nope. Freeports are a political thing as well - it's likely we will have a change of government in the next couple of years, what if the new administration shelve them? Where does that leave us?

As an addition to all you've said which is spot on, have we ever as a club been so top heavy re executive wages? We can't see wages breakdown but we seen to have lots of chiefs and too few workers bees? Also who are the 92 employees mentioned?

We always had an average £250k hole which needed plugged every year, and people who were willing to do so. But losses now are at levels which we've not seen for a long time and are beyond previously proven sustainable levels. What's worse is the mounting debt. However, what we were actually warned about in regards to Scot Gardiner is that he would treat everyone with utter contempt and alienate the fanbase...which is exactly what he has done. Our current situation is a byproduct of that. I also disagree with previous comments about there still being some good will left. After the concert fiasco, there's not many businesses in town who have a good word to say about the club, and as can be seen, not many fans either. Out of interest, can you tell me which of Scot Gardiner's schemes have not failed?

Happy to stand corrected. I based my comment on my own experience, but turns out it only applies to certain PLCs, which clearly excludes ICT: https://www.icaew.com/groups-and-networks/local-groups-and-societies/london-ds/london-accountant/news-and-opinion/may15-auditor-rotation Meanwhile the Glasgow tag has picked up on it: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/inverness-ct-future-significant-doubt-29338575?1=

"The Narey geezer"...

No real surprises in the accounts - like walking into a hospital and not being surprised that it is full of people in poor health.

Lewis Hyde has signed a one year extension I'm told by a reliable source

This is very concerning indeed, but not totally surprising

I can’t open the file for some reason so just going by the comments to date. There is a limit to the number of years the same Audit firm can sign off accounts, a safeguard to stop them becoming too close so impartiality remains. I’d need to read the going concern comment before passing a view, but it sounds like our liabilities exceed the value of our assets and we are dependent on the loans from the Directors. Now more than ever is the time the CEO and Chairman need to be open with fans, and get us on board with their future plans. A wealthy investor is unlikely so we need to explore and maximise all opportunities (not concerts!) which includes becoming the community club we say we are but, as we all know, we’ve never really been. The product on the pitch needs to be good, and hopefully the Supporters Trust Survey will result in the full match day experience being enhanced. A cup semi final (or even final….) would certainly boost interest and awareness, but that will be a bonus if it happens. It is also hard to see any real sellable assets in our squad at present. We need someone to be the new Ryan Christie, so hopefully some of our youngsters develop quickly: Nicolson or Cairns maybe?

Where the hell do we go from here because, apart from a rich owner buying the club or investing in the club, i have I'm stumped!! I see on Twitter from the Narey geezer that there are projects such as a battery farm (which he isn't confident will get planning approved) and other projects and one of the replies was that supposedly Roy McGregor's bro was being muted. last The last thing this club needs is administration or another relegation so hopefully we can pull away from that which then gives us no need to sack the management team which would be a plus. For a guy that is a natural in silence I really hope Mr Gardiner has ideas and not crap ones like the concerts! I am deeply concerned now though I know it's part and parcel of football now, I'm fairly certain we aren't the only club in this situation!

I hope there is some decent substance to the hydro pump, battery farm and freeport chat, because it all sounds like pie in the sky stuff to me. My (very limited) understanding is that the Going Concern comments from the auditor should scare us a bit. As a caveat, I think all full-time clubs that are not in the Premiership and who don't have a wealthy backer are really struggling right now. Costs are up for lots of different reasons and income is not really going up much unless you get promoted.

£835k losses for May 2022, up by £600k from May 2021. Accounts Incredibly alarming...

Wow, and with that low bar acceptance and belief the club can basically do what they want.

What player, coach or manager would be encouraged by those dire financial stats ! Who is this going to retain / attract to the club. What a state of affairs!

This time around it's the auditors raising concerns. I think that suggests the auditors would not sign off the accounts without their worries being noted. That's not a good sign, I believe.