Close scrutiny of the British Olympic Association's 2010 accounts shows that the body deployed great ingenuity in drumming up a near 40 per cent advance in revenue, in spite of a sharp decline in funds from the much-maligned Joint Marketing Programme Agreement (JMPA).

This is the deal under which commercial sponsorship rights for the period up to and including the London 2012 Olympics have been sold to the Games Organising Committee (LOCOG).

Regular readers of insidethegames might remember the eloquence with which BOA chief executive Andy Hunt has in the past described how this agreement hems him in, leaving him "horribly constrained".

"I describe it as my hands are handcuffed behind my back," he told me.

"They are then tied with baling twine over the top of my head.

"And then I'm bound in a straightjacket, put in a metal cage and it's called the Joint Marketing Programme Agreement with LOCOG."

Well, the new accounts, viewed in near-final form, show that the BOA received - or was due - just £1.57 million ($2.53 million) in 2010 from sponsors and LOCOG in connection with the JMPA.

This compares with £3.04 million ($4.90 million) in 2009.

Happily for the BOA, the Team 2012 joint venture - aimed at raising funds for Britain's London 2012 athletes and underwritten, notably, by Visa - has stepped into the breach.

Licence fee income from this source rose last year to £2.51 million ($4.05 million), from £944,000 ($1.5 million) in 2009, compensating almost exactly for the downturn in income from the JMPA.

By way of a small further bonus, Team 2012-related management fee income of £120,000 ($194,000) - up from £50,000 ($81,000) - was also receivable in 2010.

The accounts also note that "a further £403,299 ($650,584) [2009: £720,468 ($1.1 miillion)] received from Team 2012 Limited in 2009 for development of the British Olympic Coaching Programme has been deferred to be recognised in future periods.

The BOA also benefited in 2010 from the legacy of its decision the previous year to sell LOCOG its rights to sell tickets to future Olympic Games between 2013 and 2020.

More than half of the $4.5 million ($7.3 million) from that deal was received in 2009.

But $2 million ($3.2 million) was not received until February 2010 and "as there were no obligations attached to the BOA", this income was recognised in the period in which the cash was received.

With costs increasing as the body gears up for London 2012 - where some 550 athletes, the biggest British Olympic delegation in more than a century, will represent Team GB - and no exceptional profits from property sales of the type that got them through 2009, this income from Team 2012 and forward ticket sales was vital in enabling the BOA to report a pre-tax profit of nearly £235,873 ($379,664) for last year.

The new accounts also reveal that, while the BOA's average headcount fell from 57 to 52 for the year, employee costs rose from £4.34 million ($7.01 million) to £4.76 million ($7.68 million), equivalent to more than £90,000 ($145,000) each [2009: £76,200 ($122,92)].

Included in this £4.76 million ($7.68 million) figure are "restructuring payments" to value in kind secondees of nearly £250,000 ($403,331) - up from £146,555 ($236,441) in 2009.

The accounts give no indication of how much of the BOA's increased costs are explained by the expense of sending teams to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

All told, the organisation's cost of sales climbed 15 per cent to £4.57 million ($7.37 million), with administrative expenses rising 26 per cent to £6.8 million ($10.9 million).

The BOA noted that implementation of its London 2012 operational plan included the appointment of the full delegation leadership for Team GB, along with team leaders for all 26 Olympic sports.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 World Cup. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com/dodo938