OUP Accounts Index (original) (raw)

November 2025: OUP WITHDRAWS ACCOUNTS ARCHIVE Has The Remedy 3.0 drawn some Oxford blood? Did the press catch long Covid? Is it in breach of Charity Law? "If a charity's gross annual income exceeds £1 million, it is required publicly to file accounts fully audited by a statutory auditor under Part 42 of the Companies Act 2006." - UK Charities Act 2011, Section 144. BACKGROUND & EXPLANATION. In 1995 Andrew Malcolm started transcribing and posting on this website, in steadily increasing detail, OUP's annual reports and accounts, which at that time were being released by the press only in the form of printed brochures. Together with historical materials going back to the 1970s, these formed Akme's OUP Accounts Index. As a result, from 2008-09, OUP itself was obliged to start posting its accounts online as pdf files, accessible via an index, and from 2016 onwards, OUP allocated each annual report its own website. Thus it seemed that Akme's mission (Phase 1) had been fulfilled. In 2019-20, the Covid year, OUP's report was rudimentary and without accounts, as though with a virus around, the scholars had lost the ability to type or add, and that year only the bald headline figure of turnover (£845 million) was provided. From OUP's archive, Malcolm assembled the headline figures (turnover, profits, transfers to the university) for the years from 2008-09 to 2018-19 and in March 2025 he published them in The Remedy 3.0 on page 269, which features a startling table. Within a month of the book's release OUP voided the link to its archive index, removed all of its pre-2020 reports and switched access to its post-2020 ones via a new link buried below 'modern slavery' at the bottom of an obscure 'code of conduct' page. Worse still, its reports for 2020-21 and 2021-22 again carried only some headline numbers unsupported by any accounts (due to long-Covid perhaps?), thereby making all of the pre-2023 figures difficult to obtain*. In 2024 the accounts returned in a report released through a third-party 'In Publishing' website, and in 2025 they appeared likewise, but unaudited. One might assume that all of this must constitute a breach of the press's legal obligations, but thanks to its peculiar non-status, explored in The Remedy 3.0, it has none - or rather, it thinks it has none. Now why would OUP void its old link and remove most of its archive? Surely this great tax-exempt educational charity would not be needing to hide anything, would it, anything commercial for instance, like the fact that over the past twenty years, besides buying out over a hundred rival publishers, it has amassed over two billion pounds of untaxed profits? - A. M. THEREFORE, with OUP's pre-2023 accounts now e-unobtainable from Oxford, Akme has decided, for the benefit of assiduous researchers everywhere, to index below its own compiled archive of OUP's annual reports going back to 1993. This means that, as with OUP's embargoed Kew-archive tax papers of the 1940s, 50s and 70s (see Camford panel), this site is now the only publicly accessible, albeit censored, source of Oxford's pre-2023 accounts. FULL REPORTS (pdfs): From AKME's archive: 1994/95* - 1996/97* - 1997/98 - 1998/99 -1999/00** - 2003/04 - 2005/06 - 2006/07 - 2007/08 - From OUP's removed archive: 2008/09 - 2009/10 - 2010/11 - 2011/12 - 2012/13 - 2013/14 - 2014/15 - 2015/16 - 2016/17 - 2017/18 - 2018/19 - From OUP's current (post-2025) archive: 2019/20 (Covid, no accounts) - 2020/21 (post-Covid, no accounts) -2021/22 (post-Covid, no accounts) -2022/23 -2023/24 (OUP Webloc) -2023/24 (Akme png) - 2024/25 (unaudited accounts) * from photocopies ** finance pages only FOR FINANCIAL DATA 1986-2025: (links to annual reports, extracts of trading operations, property and reserve fund accounts, headline figures plus other materials) go to a separate TABULATED INDEX.* This is not quite true. In 2002 Akme also started posting the accounts of Oxford's thirty-six colleges, together with those of Cambridge's five richest (original accounts index here). Again the Oxbridge colleges and their university, following Akme's lead, were obliged, one by one, to start posting their accounts online themselves. By 2025, Oxford had collated all of its accounts into a single Grand Archive Index (exits Akme) covering the period from 2007 onwards and apparently offering access to the accounts of Oxford's 36 colleges. However, when you try to view the latter, you get a message "potential security risk" and the files do not download (the colleges' accounts in any case are nowadays available either from their own websites or via the Charity Commission's - see Akme's new 2025 updated index). The university's pdf annual reports do download, and from 2007 to 2017 their financial statements include extracts from OUP's accounts, from which can be mined some data. From 2017 onwards, OUP's detailed figures were omitted, with only the headline numbers instead mentioned in an 'at a glance' preface, and just two pages headed 'Educational Publishing' appearing in each report, cleverly disguising the fact that OUP is a separate commercial organisation with its own accounts. Plus ca change. - A. M. MORE CHEERING NEWS. Just a few weeks after out-of-control OUP released its 2024-25 results (turnover £796 million, profits £75 million), it announced its gobbling of Swiss medical publisher Karger (£ sum undisclosed), and then, just a few days later, proposed making 113 of its UK employees (sorry, their roles) redundant. Whoopee Toupsy, congratulations, and Happy Christmas everyone! - A. M. SEE ALSO MIDTOWN MELTDOWN with new American linked series. Who needs crumbling old buildings and grumbling young staff when your name is 'cattle-crossing', you're lawyered up, and AI's so cheap?

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 the auditors, who have changed over the years (1978-1995 Coopers & Lybrand, 1998-2000 PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2002-2009 Deloitte & Touche, 2010-2013 & 2024 Deloitte, 2014-2019 KPMG, 2020-2023 & 2025 no auditor credited), 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. The files are listed chronologically. Scroll down to register the developments in 2008/9, 2019/20 and 2023/24. - 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.

Oxford press in the red. 8th August 1980 Times Higher Education Supplement report by Paul Flather on OUP's losses: £1 million and rising.

OUP Report and Accounts Abstract, 1980 (includes figures for 1979). Investment of £5.75 million 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). Vice-Chancellor's Report, Report of the Chairman of Finance Committee, Financial (Trading & Reserves) Reports.

OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 1999 (includes figures for 1998). Vice-Chancellor's Report, Report of the Secretary to the Delegates, Financial (Trading & Reserves) Reports.

OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2000 (includes figures for 1999). Financial (Trading & Reserves) Reports. 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, 28th September 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 (see Oxford Times 30/8/2003).

OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2004 Complete, including Delegate lists & OUP Committees or see 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, including figures for 2005, Delegate lists, OUP Committees. More notable remarks: OUP's 'donations' are now made "to the rest of the University"; also 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, including 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.

OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2008 Complete, including figures for 2007, Delegate lists, OUP Committees. Notable points: the Akme Exhibitions, the Millions not Thousands, Reach beyond the Dreams of Avarice. Bookseller summary report 18/9/2008.

OUP Report and Accounts abstracts, 2009 Complete, including figures for 2008, Delegate lists, OUP Committees.

OUP reports "impressive" profits. Bookseller digest report by Catherine Neilan, 23rd July 2010.

Profits surge at OUP. Bookseller digest report by Lisa Campbell, 28th July 2011.

OUP releases its 2023/24 Annual Report: Turnover £833m, profits £113m "growth with a continued focus on digital transformation", with links. InPublishing report, 19th July 2024.

****Oxford University Press reports turnover of £796 million Bookseller report by Maya Snow, 24th July 2025, including the previous year's figures.**

****OUP releases its 2024/25 Annual Report: turnover £796m, profits £75m "underlines commitment to research, learning, and responsible publishing" InPublishing report with links, 25th July 2025**

****## Other OUP files and charitable status developments**

THE SURPRISING TRUTH ABOUT OUP'S 'CHARITABLE STATUS'. The controversial 5th Appendix to The Remedy.

THE WALDOCK REPORT. The University's own, 1970, 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 USA's 1972 and 1997 applications and a US lawyers' Briefing Paper.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN SAGA. Includes the interesting 1994 non-charitable comments of Justice Berman.

THE INDIAN JUDGEMENT. In January 2001 OUP finally lost its 25-year battle for charitable status in India (Indian Court of Appeal, SOL Case No. 053). 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 5/2/1999. 'Justification' of OUP's infamous poetry-axing by Finance Committee chairman Sir Keith Thomas.

The War for Jericho The Times Literary Supplement 2/4/1999. 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). Also: OUP fights corner in poetry row including CUP's donations to CU. US presses enjoy tax freedom The Times Higher (Education Supplement), 12/2/1999.

OUP to invest £87 million in university The Times (Business section), 17/7/1999, linked to leader comment and reactions. Includes explanatory notes about OUP's "generous donations".

Autumn 1999 Publication of The Remedy with controversial 5th Appendix. OUP denies breach of charity rules The Oxford Times 5/11/1999 (includes claim that OUP is integral to the university), Cooking the books? Cherwell 12/11/1999, OUP profit row Cherwell 25/2/2000 (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 site. 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 30/8/2003.

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 25/1/2005.

Autumn 2006 Akme obtains and posts the only known printed acknowledgment by OUP of the facts concerning its tax exemption, a short 'Supplementary Note' to the Delegates' Annual Report of 1978. Also links to the Annual Reports covering this period 1976/7, 1977/8, 1978/9, and 1979/80.

February 2007 The Gatekeeper's creep-out: extracts from an interview with OUP's Chief Executive Henry Reece are published in The Hindu newspaper, of Chennai (Madras), India. On OUP's tax-exemption, Reece says: "It's not particularly financially important. It is more important as a statement of who we are." Asked what will happen if/when OUP loses its tax-exemption, he asserts: "We would simply covenant our profits to the university."

March/April 2007 News stories on the 2006 Charities Act: reports in The Bookseller and The Guardian state that the university presses will required to demonstrate that they provide 'public benefit' and may be taxed; featuring comments by Andrew Malcolm and UP spokespersons. Click for Touch me minky and Please touch me minky plus linked fallout.

August 2007 JIG UP FOR DIFFERENT TOTAL ANIMALS? Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Akme obtains and posts the granted applications by CUP (1975) and OUP (1977) for exemption from corporation tax. Click for Press Release and Index.

October 2007 The Charity Commission issues its public benefit report: "There were a significant number of responses regarding the charitable status (or more specifically, the tax exempt status) of Oxford University and Cambridge University Presses, by virtue of their link to those universities, and concerns about unfair competition by non-charitable publishing companies. This issue received some publicity through national press following a High Court action against OUP over the non-publication of an individual's text."

December 2007 THE WHEEDLERS' WAR: Akme obtains and posts the failed applications by CUP (1940, 1941) and OUP (1944, 1950) for exemption from wartime taxes, featuring the Special Commissioners' judgment of 1940 and the Inland Revenue's rigorous investigations. Click for Press Release, Explanation and Index.

March 2009 THE ULTRA VIRES POISE VOLTE-FACE: under the 30-year rule, more of the Inland Revenue's internal documents from the 1970s concerning CUP's and OUP's tax exemption are made public, with redactions, and are then posted on Akme. Click for updated Press Release and Index.

15th April 2009 BLACK DAY IN BLUESVILLE: The Guardian publishes a Response article by Andrew Malcolm The Oxbridge presses aren't charities, but are given unfair tax breaks. This is the first-ever report by any national newspaper on the Oxbridge Presses' tax wheedlings of 1940-1978; it also features dangerous print-on-demand implications.

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