IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1538 F
Held at: Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Title: Financial records of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Date(s): 1926-1999
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 44 volumes, 21 folders, 2 bundles, 23 boxes, 5 outsize boxes
Name of creator(s): Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
An Executive Committee was established as a standing committee of the RCOG in 1926. By June 1930 it had combined with another standing committee, the Finance and Establishment Committee, to form the Finance and Executive Committee (F & E). The office of Honorary Treasurer was created by Council under the 1929 bye-laws of the College (ref: A1/9/1 p. 48), which state that the Honorary Treasurer's duties were to be as follows:- to pay all monies received by him on behalf of the College into a College account; to keep accounts of all monies received and expended and report monthly to the Finance and Executive Committee; to prepare quarterly reports to Council; to maintain an Income and Expenditure account and balance sheet. At an Executive Committee meeting in October 1929 it was decided that the Treasurer be given authority to arrange with the Auditors for one of their clerks to keep the necessary financial books of the College for £50 per annum. The President and Honorary secretary were also authorised to obtain any clerical assistance found necessary (Executive Committee meeting B1, 10 Oct 1929; Archives reference: A3M/1 p. 2). From this beginning the Accounts Department, renamed the Finance Department in 1999, developed. The Department, now headed by a Chief Accountant, offers financial support for the activities of the Honorary Treasurer and is responsible for the following functions:- banking all income which includes subscriptions, examination and course fees and sales from publications; paying all the College's purchase invoices; co-ordinating the budgeting process; preparing the annual statutory accounts.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Financial records of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 1926-1999, comprising records of the Finance Department, predecessors and other College departments.
The records range from policy files, correspondence relating to various appeals and memorials, signed accounts and accounting records. A large quantity of the earlier records appears to be samples of records destroyed, retained as examples of current practice at the time. For details refer to individual series descriptions, which are arranged as follows:
F1: Annual audited accounts, 1968-1986.
F2: Trial balances, 1969-1977.
F3: Records relating to investments and the Investment Advisory Panel, 1954-1992.
F4: Journal books, 1974-1981.
F5: Chief Accountant's correspondence files, 1962-1987.
F6: Pension schemes for College staff: Accountants' correspondence, 1969-1976.
F7: Financial summaries of meetings and other College events, 1979-1982.
F8-F15: Appeals and memorial funds, 1932-1987.
F16: Regional councils' accounts and ledgers, 1954-1970.
F17: Papers relating to bequests to the College, 1952-1980.
F18: Review of the College's accounting systems and organisation, 1970.
F19-F24: Ledgers, journals and account books, 1926-1986.
F25-F27: Special funds' ledgers, cash books and journals, 1931-1982.
F28: Research and Development Fund, 1966-1978.
F29: Salaries books, 1946-1965.
F30: Fellows' and Members' subscriptions' and fees' cash books, 1929-1967.
F31: Fellows' and Members' day book, 1972.
F32: Joint Committee on Contraception: annual audited accounts, 1977-1995.
F33: British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology: financial records, 1953-1971.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English.
System of arrangement:
Arranged in series as given in scope and content.
Conditions governing access:
Open 20 years after last date on file.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright: vested in the College.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
A general index to the files listed in the catalogue of the Archives of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is maintained in the College Archives; refer to the College Archivist.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Earlier records appear to have been retained without much attempt to weed or appraise for permanent value. Others have been retained as samples of records destroyed. Since the mid-1990s the practice has been for accounting records to be transferred to the Archives in January each year and destroyed after 6 years in accordance with Finance Regulations. In 1999 an agreement (Disposal Agreement no 27) was made between the Chief Accountant and the Archivist to deal with records not covered by the regulations (e.g. correspondence files).
Accruals:
Further accruals are expected.
Archival history:
The early imposition of a subject classification scheme for financial records has meant that provenance cannot not always be established. The records in these series appear to have been transferred to the College Archives from a variety of College departments, including the College Secretary's Office, the Honorary Treasurer and the Finance Department and its predecessors. Honorary Treasurer's files in particular, prior to the creation of a discrete file system for this officer's files in c.1970, will be found mixed with records of the Finance Department.
Immediate source of acquisition:
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
RCOG Archives holds other financial and taxation documents requiring special storage (Ref: GS4); signed Annual Accounts (Ref: GS12); F & E records (Ref: A3); Honorary Treasurers' papers (Ref: A6); other records relating to Fellows and Members (Refs: A1, A11, A12, B1 and B3); administrative records of the Journal (Ref: B5); other records relating to the administration of fellowships and awards (Ref: E10); other records relating to the Joint Committee on Contraception are at J1-J10.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Clare Cowling, Archivist, RCOG.
Date(s) of descriptions: November 2000