Scottish Golf hit back over report findings

• Scottish Golf dismiss claims it doesn’t take accounting seriously
• The response comes after a study released by a university student
• “The conclusions drawn lack credibility,” said Kevin Fish

Scottish Golf has strongly dismissed claims from a University of Strathclyde study that it doesn’t take the business of accounting seriously enough in its golf clubs.

The research paper, entitled Accounting for Scottish Golf: The Importance of Communication Between Caddy and Player, was produced by student Jonathan Tweedie and urges the sport’s regulating bodies to promote a more ‘business-like’ approach to clubs’ accounting, ensuring it is at the centre of their operations.

“We believe the conclusions drawn lack credibility” – Kevin Fish

A press release issued by the University of Strathclyde in conjunction with the research paper quoted Tweedie as saying: “Scottish Golf is aware of the need to support clubs as they adapt and innovate but there has been little discussion of offering a formally-led, structured guidance on educating and accounting matters.”

However, that notion was refuted by Scottish Golf club services manager Kevin Fish, who told bunkered.co.uk: “Scottish Golf welcomes the opportunity to debate the need for clubs to adopt a business-like approach, a policy which we have been supporting for a number of years.

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“However, we believe the conclusions drawn from this particular study lack credibility, given only two clubs (out of 606) were involved in the research.

“Through the support of our own development team, clubs across Scotland have responded positively to the education and best practice guidance we have provided, to help improve their financial management.”

Scottish Golf listed that:

• More than 100 clubs have engaged with our Business Planning support programme, including financial analysis, to produce a robust long-term business plan for their club;
• Representatives from 130 clubs have attended our five-day Management Development Programme (MDP) where finance is one of the ten core competencies taught by a highly qualified accountant with golf club experience;
• We recently staged an educational workshop aimed specifically at Treasurers and Finance Convenors, led by a highly qualified accountant with golf club experience, which was well supported by clubs with very positive feedback;
• We are working with 25 clubs to create a platform of meaningful KPIs (driven by relevant club data) for industry-wide business benchmarking in Scotland

Fish continued: “Despite this information being made available for this study, we were very disappointed that it was not included. We feel there is much more merit in the forward-thinking contributions from businesses such as KPMG on this topic, and welcome any approaches from our affiliated clubs with requests for the support, education and guidance we continue to provide in this vital area.”

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Blairbeth Golf Club in Glasgow closed in October 2015 after getting into severe financial difficulty.

However, also speaking to bunkered.co.uk, Jonathan Tweedie, who is 21 and has worked at Mearns Castle Golf Academy for the past four-and-a-half years, said: “Having had dialogue with Scottish Golf, they’re supportive of accounting but where I sit on it, there is not enough priority given because if you go onto the Scottish Golf website and look at Club Services, there isn’t any advice for accounting and it only really mentions VAT.

“Accounting needs to be given more of a priority” – Jonathan Tweedie

“I think they feel that it is critical of them which of course you would when it’s work I’ve done to say that they’re not doing it right just now. But I stand by what I say in the sense that there needs to be a shift in the way we do things and accounting needs to be given more of a priority.

“If you account for your golf club properly and use that to make decisions, that can only have a positive impact on the decisions you take because if you produce more informed, intelligent and data-driven decision-making for the club.

Read more -> Blairbeth Golf Club in Glasgow closes down

“However, if you neglect your accounting and you’re going to do it in an amateurish, less robust with a ‘we’re doing this because we have to every year’ manner, what’s going to follow is going to be far less positive. If you don’t use accounting to inform your decision-making, you’re going to make mistakes financially and that could be hugely significant.”

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Scottish Golf :: Is accounting taken seriously enough?

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