| Biographical/Administrative Information: | The establishment of the Finance Sub-Committee, later known as the Finance Committee, is recorded in the School's Annual Report for 1904. Reports by it to the General Committee (now Council) are mentioned in the earliest General Committee Minute book for 1911. The earliest Minutes extant, however, date from 1923. These are unsigned copies kept for reference purposes at the School; no signed series covering the period up to 13 October 1966 has been found. However, a set of Minutes signed by the chairman of the Finance Committee exists for the period 1 March 1967-17 October 1985.
The Council of the School at its meeting of 27 May 1935 accepted the recommendation of the Finance Committee of 20 May that it should cease to exist. It was felt that the monthly meetings of Council could deal directly with the small amount of financial business which existed at the time. By 1948, however, the financial business of Council had increased to such an extent that at the Council meeting of 1 March 1948 it was decided to form a new Finance Committee. Its first meeting took place on 31 March 1948. This was probably in response to a suggestion of the University Grants Committee that the University should exert effective control over the finances of the School. A compromise was achieved whereby a Finance Officer of the University became a member of the School's Finance Committee (his attendance is recorded from 15 October 1948). An agreement with the University in February 1950 records that the School Treasurer should confer with the Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer of the University on the accounts and budget in order to keep them fully informed but that the School Council should be responsible for administering the block grant from the University Grants Committee.
In February 1986, as part of a move to streamline the number of Committees operated by the School, it was decided that there was no longer any need for separate formal meetings of both the Finance Committee and the Executive Management Committee as much duplication was occurring in the work covered by the two Committees. It was agreed that the Finance Committee should continue as an ad hoc advisory committee only, under the chairmanship of the Honorary Treasurer, with particular responsibility for accounts and budgets. The Dean, the Deputy Treasurer and the Finance Officer were to be permanent members, whilst others were to be co-opted by the Chairman as circumstances dictated. From this period the committee is referred to as the Finance Sub-Committee. Although the Finance Sub-Committee's terms of reference were different from those of the original committee, the set of Minutes covering this period have been catalogued as a continuation of the earlier Finance Committee Minutes in order to maintain continuity in the sequence. |
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