NOTE. The figures in the accounts indexed below are OUP's officially declared ones. It has been put to me (by OUP insiders and others) that these may not be reliable or present the full story. Note from the preambles by former auditors Coopers & Lybrand (now Deloitte & Touche) that they are answerable to the University, and "receive instructions from the Delegates", a circumstance which puts OUP (and its public accountability) in a rather different position from an ordinary company's or corporation's - A. M.
Click for some pre-2003 OUP Delegate lists and Committees (post-2003, these are included in the accounts transcriptions).
OUP Report and Accounts Abstract, 1975 (includes figures for 1974). These accounts were submitted as an appendix to George Richardson's application (to the local tax inspector) in August 1977 for exemption from Corporation Tax. (See separate Index.)
OUP Report and Accounts Abstract, 1977 (includes figures for 1976). Filed before OUP was granted exemption from UK Corporation Tax. Delegates' telling opening paragraph reveals wording, conditions and attempted justification of OUP's application for exemption, which was under consideration by the Inland Revenue that year. Includes AKME INTRODUCTION. Posted Autumn 2006.
OUP Report and Accounts Abstract, 1978 (includes figures for 1977). Filed immediately after OUP was granted exemption from UK Corporation Tax. Includes Supplementary Note on exemption, the only such acknowledgment in print. Sale of Wolvercote paper mill underway. Posted Autumn 2006.
OUP Report and Accounts Abstract, 1979 (includes figures for 1978). Sale of Wolvercote paper mill completed. Posted Autumn 2006.
OUP Report and Accounts Abstract, 1980 (includes figures for 1979). Investment of £5.75 m. authorized for new warehouse in Corby. Posted Autumn 2006.
For a quick, 1988-1994 'leaf-through', click for linked digests of OUP's annual reports and accounts, as published in The Bookseller. 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001.
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 1995 (includes figures for 1994)
Vice-Chancellor's Report, Report of the Chairman of Finance Committee, OUP USA Report, Financial Report, including Abstract of the Accounts of the Trading Operations for the year ended 31 March 1995 (includes figures for 1994).
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 1997 (includes figures for 1996)
Vice-Chancellor's Report, Report of the Chairman of Finance Committee, Financial Reports, including Abstracts of the Accounts of the Trading Operations, the Property and Reserve Fund, for the year ended 31 March 1997 (includes figures for 1996). Also lead article in the Oxford University Gazette, 16/10/97.
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 1998 (includes figures for 1997).
Financial (Trading & Reserves) Reports only.
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 1999 (includes figures for 1998).
Financial (Trading & Reserves) Reports only.
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2000 (includes figures for 1999).
Financial (Trading & Reserves) Reports only. Includes £62 million supposed 'donation' to the University and notes.
OUP's declared financial contributions to the University, 1993-1998
Reece drives OUP growth Bookseller digest of OUP's annual accounts, 28/9/2001.
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2003 (includes figures for 2002).
Financial (Trading & Reserves) Reports, reports by Vice-Chancellor, Secretary to the Delegates, OUP USA. Includes £60 million donation for the purchase and development of the John Radcliffe Infirmary site as a neurological research institute (see Oxford Times 30/8/03).
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2004 (complete, includes Delegate lists, OUP Committees) or Akme abridged version.
Features provocative boast by the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive that since the publication of The Remedy, OUP has 'donated' over £200 million to the University.
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2006 (complete, includes figures for 2005, Delegate lists, OUP Committees).
More notable remarks: OUP's 'donations' are now made "to the rest of the University"; also this new putative legal idiocy: "The Press is also an extremely significant flag-bearer for the University: with its 4,700 staff worldwide, it is in many countries the physical presence of the University."
OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2007 (complete, includes figures for 2006, Delegate lists, OUP Committees).
Notable points: OUP's "symbiotic relationship" with the university and "ambassadorial presence" around the globe, the appearance in the Delegates' Property and Reserve of a new "Number Two Investment Fund", and the metamorphosis in the latest Trading Operations Abstracts of "surplus" into "profit". Also featuring The Bitch of the Baskervilles.
THE SURPRISING TRUTH ABOUT OUP'S 'CHARITABLE STATUS'. The controversial 5th Appendix to TheRemedy
THE WALDOCK REPORT. The University's own, 1870, pre-tax-exempt investigation of its press.
CUP'S TAX-EXEMPTION. Chapter 15 of M. H. Black's Cambridge University Press 1584-1984.
OUP'S US TAX-EXEMPTION. Explanation and analysis of OUP's all-important American tax privilege. Includes facsimiles of OUP Inc's 1972 and 1997 applications, and a US lawyers' Briefing Paper.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN SAGA, including the interesting 1994 non-charitable judgment of Justice Berman.
THE INDIAN JUDGEMENT In January 2001 OUP lost its 25-year battle for charitable status in India (Indian Court of Appeal, SOL Case No. 053). Click for The Indian Court Archive version (contains a number of typographical errors; link takes you out of www.akme) or for the Akme (corrected) version. Newspaper reports: Bookseller, Private Eye, Oxford Mail, Oxford Times (includes admission that OUP's 1999 'donations' (see below) were 'unallocated', i.e bogus).
The Purpose and the Cost The Times Literary Supplement 5/2/99. 'Justification' of OUP's infamous poetry-axing by Finance Committee chairman Sir Keith Thomas.
The War for Jericho The Times Literary Supplement 2/4/99. Response by Andrew Malcolm to preceding article: why the present 'charitable' constitution of the OUP is unsustainable.
Mammon's Imprint by Valentine Cunningham (+ leader comment and campaign). OUP fights corner in poetry row including CUP's donations to CU. US presses enjoy tax freedom The Times Higher (Education Supplement), 12/2/99.
OUP to invest £87 million in university The Times (Business section), 17/7/99, linked to leader comment and reactions. Includes explanatory notes about OUP's "generous donations".
Autumn 1999 Publication of The Remedy. OUP denies breach of charity rules The Oxford Times 5/11/99 (includes claim that OUP is integral to the university), Cooking the books? Cherwell 12/11/99, OUP profit row Cherwell 25/2/00 (includes admission that OUP's 1999 'donations' to the university were bogus).
August 2003 OUP announces further donation of £77 million for the purchase of the John Radcliffe Infirmary for conversion to student accommodation. A Palpable Hit? and Oxford Mail & Times. First-ever public querying (by Joel Rickett) in a UK national newspaper of OUP's tax-exemption: The Guardian 30/8/03.
January 2005 The university admits its financial reliance on OUP's illegal profits. Funding crisis forces Oxford to cut British student places. Front-page lead report in The Times 25/1/05.
March 2007 Lead news story in The Bookseller: CHARITIES REVIEW COULD HIT PUBLISHERS: Giant OUP may be stripped of its tax-exempt status. Click for Touch me minky.