2025-2026 Canadian Figure Skating | Page 78 | Golden Skate

2025-2026 Canadian Figure Skating

Looking at the report, 20 million of it was transferred from unrestricted funds to internally restricted.

I wouldn't call it being cheap since having enough money in reserve for cases where events are cancelled or longer term projects. It probably took a big hit after 2020 and needed to be topped up. Plus the funds being tied up in investments wouldn't make them easy to spend.

Maintaining a solid reserve is absolutely wise... for an organization like that they'd want at least six months of expenses to be comfortable ($12M)... a full year would be spectacular ($24M), and that was typically what they maintained historically (I have all their numbers going back to 2013). They have over a 1.5 years currently ($36M), that is excessive to be quite frank.

Moving money from unrestricted to restricted is meaningless, it's just a declaration of how they intend to spend the money (and can be undid very easily). And investments are not hard to liquidate (those aren't all GIC's locked in for years, you don't get returns like that from GIC's), especially not when it comes to year to year budgeting. Those aren't funds you need tomorrow, those are moves you make methodically.

They didn't lose money after 2020... those 2021-2025 numbers I cited actually includes everything after April 1st 2020 (their year-end is March 31), so all the financial effects are baked in. And for what it's worth, from April 2020-March 2021 they actually made an operating profit of 1.8M, and an investing one of an astounding 5.3M. They banked an astounding $7.1M in profits the first year of the pandemic!

The second year of the pandemic (April 2021-March 2022) they still broke even on operations, and made another $0.9M on investments... so add those together and Skate Canada actually added just over $8M to their reserves during the pandemic.

So, no, there was no "big hit" from the pandemic. In fact, believe it or not, those were the most financially prosperous two years in their entire history.
 
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Maintaining a solid reserve is absolutely wise... for an organization like that they'd want at least six months of expenses to be comfortable ($12M)... a full year would be spectacular ($24M), and that was typically what they maintained historically (I have all their numbers going back to 2013). They have over a 1.5 years currently, that is excessive to be quite frank.

Moving money from unrestricted to restricted is meaningless, it's just a declaration of how they intend to spend the money (and can be undid very easily). And investments are not hard to liquidate (those aren't all GIC's locked in for years, you don't get returns like that from GIC's), especially not when it comes to year to year budgeting. Those aren't funds you need tomorrow, those are moves you make methodically.

They didn't lose money after 2020... those 2021-2025 numbers I cited actually includes everything after April 1st 2020 (their year-end is March 31), so all the financial effects are baked in. And for what it's worth, from April 2020-March 2021 they actually made an operating profit of 1.8M, and an investing one of an astounding 5.3M. They banked an astounding $7.1M in profits the first year of the pandemic!

The second year of the pandemic (April 2021-March 2022) they still broke even on operations, and made another $0.9M on investments... so add those together and Skate Canada actually added just over $8M to their reserves during the pandemic.

So, no, there was no "big hit" from the pandemic. In fact, believe it or not, those were the most financially prosperous two years in their entire history.
That's one way to look at it. Skate Canada also has KPMG looking at their numbers, who probably have a better idea of what money they need and how to allocate it for their budget based on the organization being not for profit as mentioned in the report. They have to budget with that in mind, they can't be making profits even if you find them in the report.

They also understand where their revenue sources can change, like losing Canadian Tire as a sponsor. Or that they may not receive increases in government funding with cuts happening.
 
I know I'm talking about a lot of numbers others may not have at hand, so here is a compilation of their historical audited financials I did a couple years ago. Haven't added in 2024 and 2025 yet, but you can glean those from the financial statements I posted earlier (I can also provide those financial reports supporting these numbers if you'd like a copy of those). I compiled all this back when they had those issues with not having properly reported their numbers for any years and finally caught up.

So, just FYI... or to ignore if you hate walls of numbers

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That's one way to look at it. Skate Canada also has KPMG looking at their numbers, who probably have a better idea of what money they need and how to allocate it for their budget based on the organization being not for profit as mentioned in the report. They have to budget with that in mind, they can't be making profits even if you find them in the report.

They also understand where their revenue sources can change, like losing Canadian Tire as a sponsor. Or that they may not receive increases in government funding with cuts happening.

KPMG just does their audit, they don't budget for them. In fact, they can't, because that's a huge no-no if you do the audit. And all an audit is is assurance that the numbers presented are accurate. There provide no special insights into the wonderful world of accounting. It just means they've done some work to prove the balances.

There is no magic to it. I say that as a CPA/CA. And if you want to know a real dark secret about audits, most of the work is done by lowly students and low level staff, and barely get looked at by the big ticket accountants. ;)

And sure, things change. That's why you maintain a reserve. Like I said, six months of them is suffice in most cases... twelve months is spectacular... they have over 18, that's just excessive.

And that's for all of it! Which they would never lose all of it. They could lose all their sponsors, and $264,253 they paid last year, and could float that loss for well over a century! :cheeky:
 
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KPMG just does their audit, they don't budget for them. In fact, they can't, because that's a huge no-no if you do the audit. And all an audit is is assurance that the numbers presented are accurate. There provide no special insights into the wonderful world of accounting. It just means they've done some work to prove the balances.

There is no magic to it. I say that as a CPA/CA. And if you want to know a real dark secret about audits, most of the work is done by lowly students and low level staff, and barely get looked at by the big ticket accountants. ;)

And sure, things change. That's why you maintain a reserve. Like I said, six months of them is suffice in most cases... twelve months is spectacular... they have over 18, that's just excessive.

And that's for all of it! Which they would never lose all of it. They could lose all their sponsors, and $264,253 they paid last year, and could float that loss for well over a century! :cheeky:
I think I'll take KPMG's knowledge of Skate Canada's finances over yours and I'll leave it at that.
 
I kind of feel for Michael Slipchuk -high performance director. Of course you have to pump Canadian Nationals but they are limping to the olympics. Honestly I so hope for Max and Deanna and Piper and Paul but both look resigned to being off the olympic podium and in the team event Canada might not even make the final five teams it is that bad. Max and Deanna have not managed to skate cleanly and they need too with no huge tricks. Meanwhile Piper and Paul at no fault of their own have clearly been dropped by the world. Its too late to change their free or RD now I guess. THey seem resigned to fourth I do hope they can mentally continue on to worlds and win a medal there. But I am fearful they will just give up and drop out after the olympics with broken dreams and hearts. While it might be a wake up if Gabby somehow won Nats or if Gogo or Roman do really well it just seems like a flat year or flatline. It has been a while since Canada had a solid lady man really. Keegan looks hardly ready. Yes Gogo and Roman have show some spark but then they let us down. Lia and Trennt showed promise in 2022 but they too have fallen down the wayside. Ironically Lala has shown proise but it seems they got stopped by the US "second" team who seems to get the pump over them and then adding the new French team seems o have derailed Canada dance (both teams 1 and 2) Canada most likely will not win a medal at the olympics. Piper and Paul Canada's best chance really need to pull out of Nats and go to 4CC. They will not skate in the final group because the pesky Lithuanians will get the final group over them if the go to Euros.
I agree about P&P going to 4CC instead of Nationals.

However, I do think Canada has improved comparing from last season.

In regards to Dance, P&P are still contenders for the bronze medal and LaLa are 6th-8th. But, we now also have three good top ten junior standing teams and could nab three spots for next juniors worlds. So, dance is an improvement

Pairs, that is my disappointing discipline amongst our top two teams. They both got more inconsistent. But, we were able to get three junior pairs teams to the JGP Finals.

Men - Improvements. Romsky has improved his consistency and who would have thought Stephen would improve this much this season. Also, Grayson placed tenth at JGP standings. So, we improved in this discipline for sure. It used to be our weakest discipline.

Women - It used to be Maddie and then a few women stuck in the 170-180 range. Now, we have Gabby, SMD joining Maddie in the 180-190 range. Also, our top Junior girl is a Novice girl. So, improvements in this discipline.

These little steps hopefully mean good things for Canada in the next Olympic cycle.
The main failure these past years with Canadian skating was not to manage to get the bronze medal of the team event. Maybe it was never going to happen but that's my only problem in terms of leadership.

The other problem is that our athletes do not get out. But is that leadership or money ? I don't know.


I came here for another reason though : come support our juniors : they are starting tomorrow. Livestream will be free and available for all on Dailymotion.

Please visit the sub-section of the forum.

For juniors : threads have been made by discipline. Short and Long programs will be discussed in the same thread. Enjoy !
I’m going to watch Junior Nationals after work Tues to Wed 🥺

I will semi join in on Friday and will mostly watch LIVE Sat and Sun

Good luck to all the skaters!!
 
However I look at these numbers, I agree that there is too much in the bank and not enough spending. Let's just add one assignment to those who didn't get enough (a couple skaters got enough) ... how much more would that even cost ? 100 K ? 200 K...even if it were 500 K, it wouldn't be the end of the world with the contingency Skate Canada has.

It bugs me majorly because apparently, there is no money to host ACI... but at the same time, ACI would also be a cheap way to send out skaters to a Challenger even.

Anyway... non-profits are not supposed to make that much profit ;) so at one point, they will need to spend their money and I hope it will be on the skaters and not on giving raises to the high performance director and whoever else is responsible for not sending out skaters out.
 
However I look at these numbers, I agree that there is too much in the bank and not enough spending. Let's just add one assignment to those who didn't get enough (a couple skaters got enough) ... how much more would that even cost ? 100 K ? 200 K...even if it were 500 K, it wouldn't be the end of the world with the contingency Skate Canada has.

It bugs me majorly because apparently, there is no money to host ACI... but at the same time, ACI would also be a cheap way to send out skaters to a Challenger even.

Anyway... non-profits are not supposed to make that much profit ;) so at one point, they will need to spend their money and I hope it will be on the skaters and not on giving raises to the high performance director and whoever else is responsible for not sending out skaters out.
I'd think you could send a skater and a coach anywhere in the world for a week for no more than $10,000 with an ounce of planning ahead, probably less... so you could do a lot of assignments for 200K. I went to Europe a year ago and it was cheaper to fly to Prague than it was to fly anywhere in Canada lol
 
I'd think you could send a skater and a coach anywhere in the world for a week for no more than $10,000 with an ounce of planning ahead, probably less... so you could do a lot of assignments for 200K. I went to Europe a year ago and it was cheaper to fly to Prague than it was to fly anywhere in Canada lol
20 assignments may not make a drastic change (considering 4 disciplines in 3 age categories) but still, it would be a start and keep skaters motivated.
 
Sadly, they will only let me see part one, but that is allready fascinating. Thanks @DemTuppesSeine
You can create an account, that's for free...I already had one because the login data I made for buying tickets are the same 😅 And I'm still at workand can't watch everything right now but I zapped through it. It's looking soo good. I think we will learn a few new things about Deanna by watching this.
 
After watching the Junior Rhythmn Dance competition yesterday (I enjoyed the skating if not the music), I am hoping our top 3 teams get sent to an ISU competition before Jr world's (even though only 2 go to worlds). For practice, rust removal and to improve the reputation of the teams. KW also had a great observation for our top team Layla Veillon / Alexander Brandys - they need to be faster to be in contention for a podium spot.
 
Congrats to Lia Cho for her new National junior record of 199.60 !
She was phenomenal

I was clapping and screaming “Slay!!” after she landed her last jumping pass.

Two Novice title (Pre-and Novice)
Two Junior titles

I hope she continues to slay for seasons to come. I imagine she will skate as a Senior domestically and a Junior internationally next season.

Lia still has her one and final Novice international event to go after Skate Trophy is finished. I can’t wait to see what her assignment will be. Congrats Lia on the improvements on the PCS side.
 
Deanna is on the new episode of the Olympics.com podcast hosted by Nick McCarvel. A great interview about the documentary and other things!
 
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