ALSO finally marks AGM date

The ALSO Foundation will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) next month after a lengthy postponement.

In an email memo sent to members last week, ALSO spokesman Daniel Perkins confirmed the board has called the meeting for both arms of the organisation (ALSO Foundation and ALSO Care) on Tuesday, February 28.

Perkins said ALSO’s skeleton staff in recent months meant volunteer directors and committee members had been lumbered with the task of sorting out the organisations’ finances, causing the delays.

“Given recent significant changes to the staffing structure of Foundation and Care, developments in the financial position of both organisations, and the importance of having accurate information upon which members can make sound decisions for the future of both organisations, the Foundation Board and Care Committee sought permission to postpone the AGMs,” Perkins said.

In the memo, Perkins also admitted past information provided to members about ALSO’s financial state may not have been accurate.

“Discoveries this year suggested that accounts and budgets presented to previous AGMs may not have given members sufficient and accurate information to make sound decisions regarding the organisations’ activities.

“We wanted to take extra care to ensure that the accounts and budgets presented to the next AGMs are more accurate and provide clearer information.”

The organisation was due to hold the meeting by November 30 2011.

In December Perkins told the Star Observer ALSO had received the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s approval to hold the meeting outside the usual time period due to its lack of permanent staff.

ALSO has been under significant financial pressure in the last year after coming to the brink of insolvency, cutting most of its paid staff and relying on part-time contractors and volunteers.