Just where are those accounts BASSA?
Just a note to be clear what is being asked for by a paid up BASSA member and why it is such a very simple and reasonable request.
The BASSA section of Unite is the equivalent of a small company with an annual turnover in excess of £1.5million and has a duty to it's members to record income received and money spent. In accountancy terms this would consist, amongst other things, of a Profit and Loss Account and a Balance Sheet for each trading year.
The Profit and Loss Account for the year merely details all the income received and against that summarises the way in which the money was spent. That spending would be simply grouped in categories such as salaries to staff, political contributions, contributions to other bodies, office costs such as printing and postage etc, member expenses, travel costs, entertaining expenses etc.
The "bottom line" would then show a profit or loss.
The Balance Sheet simply shows the assets of the organisation such as property, office equipment, cash in hand, depreciation, debtors and creditors together with the aforementioned "profit or loss" from the current trading year.
So, a request should return two A4 sheets containing the above together with a note from the accountants to say that they believe it to be a true and accurate record. It is not common to include supporting documentation when making accounts available to members. Not a difficult request to fulfil and would take approximately the same time as responding that "we are busy at the moment"
If accounts have not been properly kept for preceding years then to complete the task retrospectively would be possible, however there would have to be supporting receipts/documentation in order to get an accountant to put his name to it.
It is a simple matter to dispel the suggestion that there are no valid accounts, simply send out a summarised copy to any request from a paid up BASSA member.
Silence or refusal merely confirms the suspicion.