Introduction

In late 2016, questions were raised regarding anomalies within the Iaidobu accounts originally centred around one specific event – the 2015 KEBT. Enquiries were made with the former officers and meetings were requested to help clarify and alleviate the questions. Despite several months of communication efforts were unsuccessful. It was decided to take these concerns directly to the membership via the Bucho’s Report (published Feb 2017).

The Bucho’s Report was successful in prompting resolution to some but not all of the issues, as new information quickly became available. It did raise some complaints from some members, but not from the former Bucho or Treasurer themselves, and these complaints were investigated by a Kendo Complaints Committee (KCC). Looking into these complaints and in viewing evidence they concluded that ‘material supplied by John Honisz-Greens (JHG) includes information from both BKA (current) Treasurer and Auditors asserts a marked lack of audit trail and information on prior Iaido accounts’. As such it was recommended that ‘The National Committee (NC) should set up a new panel to investigate the alleged anomalies in the Iaido accounts’ (KCC, 04/07/2017, p.2).

The financial report (FR) arising from the investigation was published December 2017 and does satisfy many of the concerns, highlighting most of the shortcomings of the accounts in question. The report attempted to draw a line under the situation, so as to collectively move on with the learning-outcomes that should better inform the association about its accounting processes. While accounting improvements proposed by the Treasurer and approved by the NC in September 2017 have been implemented and initiatives are on-going; however, healing the rift within the Iaidobu has largely been unsuccessful due to the discussions still taking place on social media and an unwillingness to accept that the concerns put forward were valid and required addressing.

The Iaidobu-EC have deliberately refrained from commenting, as required by our constitution, while investigations were on-going. This allowed natural processes to occur without bias. Furthermore, as the issue was no longer a Bu issue and was in the hands of the NC, as initiated by the complaints process, this seemed appropriate to maintain integrity of any investigation. Due to the current situation within the Iaidobu, most notably the significant social media activity, the current Iaidobu officers discussed the issue at a recent Bu meeting and collectively felt that further clarification was needed for the membership, to show more succinctly ‘what’ the original concerns were and ‘why’ and ‘how’ these came about. This has been done using the information made available to us and is also supported by independent professional statements. This report provides evidence of the financial concerns to help clarify matters to the membership. It is offered in good faith from the Iaido BuEC and Co-opted Officers, also with the assistance of the Treasurer.