Is The Game Up for "This Land"?

 

The record loss in the year to Dec 2019 was in large part due to that year’s inventory impairment charge of £7.58m to bring the total inventories value (which included a loan interest component) down to the assessed net realisable value of the inventories.  If that impairment charge were removed, the £11.2m comprehensive loss in 2022/23 would have been the highest to date. 

 

In the financial statements, the administrative expense categories are not shown in full, with a total that reconciles with the headline admin expenses in the Profit & Loss account.  This is contrary to how financial statements are normally disclosed.  It means the reader of the accounts has no visibility of what type(s) of admin expenses are included in the undisclosed £8.97m since 2017.  This is a clear fraud risk factor, and it is surprising that the external auditor has not insisted that This Land follow the accounting convention of recording all sub-categories in the notes to the accounts, even if it means including a catch-all “other” category for very small amounts not shown elsewhere.  In every financial period bar 2022/23, the undisclosed admin expenses values were higher than staff costs.

 

 

The Chief Executive Officer’s total remuneration (excl. employer’s NIC contributions) has risen pro-rata by 40% in the last two financial periods (£19% per annum).