Ext 3580/1941 'Iraqi State Railways. Reports on the Administration of.' [‎11v] (22/166)

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RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION REPORT
ACCOUNTS AND FINANCE
3.—Revenue Account—Appendix “A”
The revenue derived from operation which amounted to I.Ds. 711,355
proved, in the aggregate, slightly in excess of the estimates which were originally
put at I.Ds. 708,000. Further analysis shows however that, taken separately,
the individual revenue heads comprised therein did not correspondingly keep
pace w r ith the estimates. Receipts from import traffic, and to a lesser extent
from Coaching, failed to come up to expectation. This was however, made good
by higher earnings from export traffic.
The expenditure on operation amounted to I.Ds. 571,209 which, when
compared with the original sanctioned estimates, reveals a saving of I.Ds.
16,258.
The ratio of operating expenditure to gross receipts on revenue account
works out to 75.90 per cent as against 84.50 per cent for the preceding year.
4.—Net Revenue and Appropriation Accounts
Taking into account the revenue derived from miscellaneous sources on
the one hand and such expenses as are not directly connected with operations
on the other, the total revenue and expenditure of the Railway amounted to
I.Ds. 752,546 and I.Ds. 723,530 respectively, thus showing a net surplus of
I.Ds. 29,016 as against a net deficit of I.Ds. 19,449 during the preceding year.
As in previous years, the payments for the service of Capital Debt were met
out of revenue, the charges booked during 1939-40 having amounted to I.Ds.
125,237 or I.Ds. 30,000 in excess of the preceding year. But for the fact that
in order to conform to Budget requirements these payments had to be charged
to Revenue, the net surplus of the year would have amounted to as much as
I.Ds. 154,253.
5.—General Reserve Account
The General Reserve as at 31st March, 1939, stood at I.Ds. 204,773.
On 31st March, 1940, the balance was raised to I.Ds. 290,441 after crediting
thereto the surplus realized on the year’s working as well as the principal of
the loan redeemed out of Revenue.
6.—Balance Sheet
In the report for the preceding year, mention had been made of the
Government’s decision to re-introduce in the Balance Sheet the Capital Assets
taken over on the transfer of the Administration to the Iraqi Government at
a nominal figure of I.Ds. 400,000, corresponding to the purchase price of the
Railways. Since then, further consideration has been given to this matter in
correspondence with the Government and as a result it has been decided to show
in the Balance Sheet the assessed value of the assets as at the date of transfer of
ownership amounting to I.Ds. 2,139,870. Per contra, the General Reserve
on the Liabilities side of the Balance Sheet was increased to a corresponding
extent but, for the sake of differentiation, the whole amount taken credit for
had been shown under a separate account entitled Capital Reserve Account.
7.—Loans
The two instalments which fell due during the year on the service of the
1,000,000 Sterling Loan were paid on their due dates. Of the total amount