The Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) has shrugged off a difficult 12 months posting a return to profit in the last financial year.
The not-for-profit organisation posted a gain of $149,299 for 2014-2015 reversing the loss of $107,351 from the previous 12 months. Yet, it should be noted that the revenues were “income in advance” and had not yet been paid to the AMI.
However, this may have a lot to do with a controversial $99 levy or “service enhancement fee” that its 6000-plus members had to wear back in February that the AMI forced on members for risk of becoming insolvent.
But it’s not all good news for the AMI. The auditor who compiled the report warned that “the company’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on a number of factors including the successful implementation of various cost saving measures and the ability of the company to perform in line with cash flow projections”.
The AMI’s CEO Lee Tonitto (pictured above) told B&T the results “were very good news indeed” and denied Febraury’s levy had angered members and highlighted the parlous financial state of the organisation.
“We put a request to members for a payment of a special levy to help us rebuild the AMI and deliver better services,” Tonitto said. “Our members supported that levy, we have re-invested the money back in our services, and that has resulted in a turnaround in our financial performance.”
Tonitto denied the levy had alienated members and the AMI had, in fact, “njoyed a very solid performance in membership” for the financial year and “achieved over 1500 new members in the last year”.
In regards to the auditor’s concerns, Tonitto said: “We received an unqualified audit opinion and we received a notice to say that the good we have done needs to continue to make sure we grow our services and revenue and continue to re-build our reserves in the organisation.
“We have an exciting new series called Connected Intelligence masterclasses, we have a new online training program that we’ll be launching later this year. We’ve just launched the Content Marketing Institute; so a whole new, fresh set of programs for professional development. We’ve got our awards in October and in November we have a public sector marketing summit.
“We’ve just hosted our Humanity in Marketing Summit that is underpinned by this idea of conscious capitalism and a whole new profressional and personal development program that will further strengthen our financial position,” she said.
