Dossier 9 - Accounts - General 1976-1985

1 file

Contains correspondence and reports relating to the Observer's financial accounts. Includes memorandums and sets of figures relating to salary increases; projected and actual overspends against budget (1976); auditing, including the Lonrho internal audit (1985); economies, budget control and raising the cover price; insurance; trading performance; capital expenditure including the 1980 procedure for ordering capital equipment; staffing costs; a new purchasing and ordering procedure (1978); employers liability accident claims 1978; expenses accounts including expense policy for 1983; the advertisement account system (1979); checklist for carrying out investigations into companies the Observer may be interested in acquiring (1979); company loans; draft Observer Accounts manual (1981);complaints about the payments section of the Observer accounts department; cheque signatories and authorisation procedures; loss of profits caused by the SOGAT/NGA dispute in 1983; new year's day publishing costs; company credit cards; payroll robbery (1984-1985); photographers losses in Brixton riots (1985); ready reakoners for the second quarter of 1985/1986 and for 1986/1987. The file includes references to Observer Holdings Ltd (later Lockhold); Observer Partners and the US offices of the Observer newspaper.

The first part of this file (up to 1979) consists almost exclusively of memorandums sent from Roger Harrison to John Steel. Later primary correspondents include: Brian Nicholson, John Nuttall-Smith, David Bishop, Ron Holmes, Brian Blelloch and William Millinship.
Creator: The Observer Limited; Managing Director's Office; Roger Harrison

Records identifying individuals' salaries are closed in accordance with DPA.