The British Museum

RepoRT and accounTs foR The yeaR ended 31 MaRch 2011

hc 1325 £11.25

The British Museum

presented to parliament pursuant to section 9(8) of the Museums and Galleries act 1992

RepoRT and accounTs foR The yeaR ended 31 MaRch 2011

Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 13 July 2011

hc 1325 £11.25

The British Museum account 2010-2011

The British Museum account 2010-2011

© The British Museum (2011)

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The British Museum account 2010-2011

The British Museum account 2010-2011

contents Page

Trustees’ and Accounting Officer’s Annual Report 3

chairman’s foreword 3

structure, governance and management 4

constitution and operating environment 4

Governance 4

Management 5

friends’ organisations 5

strategic direction and performance against objectives 5

To manage and research the collection more effectively 6

The collection 6

conservation and scientific Research 6

fieldwork and research 7

To enhance access to the collection 8

exhibitions 8

debate, dialogue and learning 9

national exhibitions and programmes 10

Media and publications 10

International exhibitions and programmes 11

a history of the World in 100 objects 12

To invest in our people 13

employees 13

diversity 14

Volunteers 14

To increase self-generated income 14

plans for future periods 14

fundraising and finance 15

World conservation and exhibitions centre 15

exhibitions 15

acquisitions 15

Grant-in-aid 16

Trading 16

capital expenditure 16

Grants 16

Reserves 16

Reserves policy 16

Monitoring levels of reserves 17

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The British Museum account 2010-2011

The British Museum account 2010-2011

Maintaining Reserves 17

Reviewing the reserves policy 17

designations 17

Investments and financial risks 17

public benefit, sustainability, social and community issues 18

public benefit 18

estates management and sustainability 18

suppliers 19

activity under immunity from seizure 19

Reference & administrative details 20

The Board of Trustees 20

Trustees’ committees and membership 20

Trustee membership of related councils and Boards 21

official addresses as at 31 March 2011 21

dcMs’ performance indicators 22

Basis of preparation of financial statements and accounting policies and practices 23

Remuneration Report 24

Statement of Trustees’ and Accounting Officer’s responsibilities 26

Statement on internal control 27

scope of Responsibility 27

The purpose of the system of Internal control 27

capacity to handle Risk 27

The Risk and control framework 27

Review of effectiveness 28

The Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the Houses of Parliament 29

Respective responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, the director and auditor 29

scope of the audit of the financial statments 29

opinion on regularity 29

opinion on financial statements 29

opinion on other matters 29

Matters on which I report by exception 30

Report 30

Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2011 31

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The British Museum account 2010-2011

The British Museum account 2010-2011

Trustees’ and accounting officer’s annual Report

chairman’s foreword

‘The best radio programme I’ve ever heard,’ wrote one admirer – and she’d been listening for 65 years. A History of the World in 100 Objects drew praise from across the globe. The innovative collaboration between the BM and BBc Radio 4 produced an immense popular response, not least in attracting visitors to the Museum itself to see the objects that had so enticed them on the radio.

In 2010, 5.9 million people visited the BM in London, making it for the fourth year running the uK’s top visitor attraction. They could explore the afterlife with rare egyptian papyri, visit a south africa Landscape in the forecourt, or enjoy Renaissance feasts or nigerian films. fascinating objects from afghanistan were displayed in an exhibition that included ivories looted from the national Museum of afghanistan between 1992 and 1994, dramatically found and generously purchased by a donor for return to Kabul.

The World conservation and exhibitions centre has received outstandingly generous support. The major building project at the BM will improve facilities and extend the BM’s national and international presence, increasing the number of loans the BM will be able to make and supporting joint projects in conservation, research and training. In september 2010, the sainsbury family through the Linbury Trust, chaired by Lord sainsbury of preston candover, and the Monument Trust, established by the late simon sainsbury and now chaired by stewart Grimshaw, donated £25 million towards the £135 million project – one of the largest gifts to the arts in the united Kingdom in recent decades. Major support has also been given by the Wolfson foundation, Garfield Weston foundation, clothworkers’ foundation, a.G. Leventis foundation and the family of constantine Leventis, as well as a continued pledge by the Government to provide significant financial support. In addition, we are delighted that the heritage Lottery fund have confirmed their initial support.

The Trustees are immeasurably grateful for the timely generosity of these donors, as well as of those who wish to remain anonymous. fundraising continues, but the building’s importance and success is in no doubt. It will raise BM conservation, scientific research, collection management and exhibitions to a new level of efficiency and excellence. The Wcec will be a fitting platform for the international scholarship and collaborations that BM staff have strived so hard to achieve, often in less than ideal working conditions.

The BM seeks to be a museum for the nation not by building outposts, but by collaborating with regional partners, expert as they already are in their own collections and audiences. partnership galleries such as this year’s new Roman gallery at the yorkshire Museum have been a particular success. such galleries draw on the BM collection to support and extend regional collections and produce a richer visitor experience than would otherwise have been possible for the public across Britain.

Times are difficult, and the BM remains thankful for the financial support of all its donors and supporters. Most recent among them has been citi’s generous sponsorship of the new presentation of the Money Gallery, which draws on the BM’s rare collection of more than one million coins, from the 7th century Bc to the present day. When funds are short, it is often difficult to make great acquisitions, so we should like particularly to thank the friends of the British Museum, who gave £725,000 toward the purchase of the nimrud ivories, possibly the most important addition to the Museum’s collection in the year under review. The BM’s increasing presence nationally and internationally has also drawn support from a wide range of individuals and bodies across the globe, and we are pleased to see those wider endeavours so honoured. This year we lost the remarkable contribution of three Trustees. Both stephen Green and James sassoon answered the greater challenge to serve in Government, and Lord powell came to the end of his second term. My grateful thanks to both on behalf of the BM.

for their hard work and dedication, the Trustees would like to thank all BM staff and volunteers. Without them, the collection could not achieve its distinctive scholarship, care, public presence and affection in the hearts of visitors worldwide.

Niall FitzGerald KBE

chairman of the Trustees

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The British Museum account 2010-2011

The British Museum account 2010-2011

structure, governance and management

constitution and operating environment

The British Museum was founded in 1753. Its aim is to hold for the benefit and education of humanity a collection representative of world cultures (“the collection”), and ensure that the collection is housed in safety,