Duties of Treasurer 

What is a Treasurer:

The Treasurer is responsible for managing the finances of the club and maintaining accurate financial records, and the club rules usually provide for the Treasurer to be appointed at the annual general meeting. The post of a Treasurer is a voluntary position although in larger organisations some of the Treasurer s work is undertaken by a paid Financial Controller, in which case the Treasurer will have a supervisory role.

A newly elected Treasurer should meet the Auditor if the organisation has one, the outgoing Treasurer, and the Commodore or President, to discuss the work that needs to be done and the precise requirements of the Auditor.

Although the Treasurer has primary responsibility for the finances, he/she must work closely with the other members of the committee and it is essential that the finances are handled in accordance with the constitution and with the decisions of the committee. The Treasurer is ultimately responsible for many functions related to finance whether working alone or with the help of a paid official.

What qualities are needed:

The Treasurer has an important job to perform and so it is important that the Treasurer is:

• able to keep records;
• able and prepared to make regular time commitment;
• well organised;
• enthusiastic;
• careful when handling money and cheques;
• honest;
• able to answer questions in meetings
• confident in handling figures;
• prepared to make instant decisions when necessary.

What does the Treasurer do:

Whether the Treasurer is working alone or with a paid official, the Treasurer is ultimately responsible for:

• regularly reporting to the committee on the financial position;
• arranging for the statement of accounts to be audited;
• looking after the finances of the organisation;
• collecting subscriptions and all money due to the organisation;
• paying bills on time and recording the information;
• keeping up-to-date records for all financial transactions;
• ensuring that funds are spent properly;
• issuing receipts for all money received and recording this information;
• preparing a year-end statement of accounts to present to the Auditors;
• presenting an end-of-year financial report to the Annual General Meeting;
• financial planning including producing an annual budget and monitoring it throughout the year;
• helping to prepare and submit any statutory documents that are required, for example tax returns, PAYE and NI returns, VAT returns and grant aid reports.

The Treasurer is ultimately responsible even if these duties are delegated to a professional officer. It is up to the Treasurer to make sure that any delegated work is properly carried out.

What equipment is required:

In order to be an efficient Treasurer you will need the following equipment:

• petty cash box;
• financial information of the organisation from previous years;
• ring binders for storing the completed documents;
• calculator;
• an analysed cash book to record money received (receipts) and paid out (payments)
• box file or lever arch file for storing the completed documents; and 
• receipt book (in duplicate) to issue receipts for money received

The same book can be used to record both receipts and payments if you prefer. Although if you do, make sure that you keep the two sections separate. If the book is wide enough to allow, use let-hand pages for receipts and the right for payments.

Paying the bills:

It is important to pay out-of-pocket expenses to volunteers promptly, since they have already paid out the money on behalf of the organisation, and are also giving their time free of charge. Their co-operation and good will is vital to the success of the organisation. Bills should be paid within one-month of receiving them, especially when dealing with companies that you use often. Their good will is important, and they will be more likely to want to trade with you again and are more likely to give you good terms or discounts, if they know that they will be paid reasonably promptly.

Normally, bills will be for items which have been budgeted, for expenditure which has already been approved or for routine items. If the Treasurer receives a bill for something that has not been approved, and is not routine then the committee should be informed and asked for guidance.

A good idea is for the committee to set limits for financial decisions. If it is small amounts say 50 then the Treasurer could authorise it personally. For a larger sum for example between 50 and 100 then it may require consultation with another officer and for larger sums still this would require the approval of the full committee.

All payments should relate back to a written invoice or document. This also applies to claims for expenses from members of the committee. It is easy to produce a simple claim form for them to fill in before you pay them. This will help the Treasurer and makes sure that all payments are properly documented.

When handing out cheques do not rely on your memory, always make sure that you have some proper documentation.

The accounts keep a record of all income and expenditure and comprise of books or ledgers, usually covering a 12-month period (the financial year). At the end of the 12-month period it is recommended that the accounts are audited by an independent person, preferably with a relevant professional qualifications. (The Auditor)

All the receipts and payments should be recorded in the account books, and a summary of these books should be prepared showing all the receipts and payments of the organisation during a 12 month period.

If the organisation is a limited company, it should have a registered Auditor who produces a report under the requirements of the Companies Act. Most members clubs, which are not limited companies, elect honorary Auditors to inspect and verify the accounts which the Treasurer produces.

The cashbook is used to record receipts and payments. The following should be recorded for every transaction:

• date of the entry;
• person whom you are paying (or from whom you have received the money);
• cheque number (for payments by you) or receipt number (for receipts issued by you);
• reference number for that entry; this number should also be written on the invoice or expenses claim form for easy cross-reference;
• details of the transaction; and 
• if you are VAT registered the VAT element should also be recorded.

Whenever cheques are paid in to a bank or building society, the receipts section of the cashbook should be totalled, and a note made of the total amount put in the bank, along with the date. These totals can easily be compared with bank statements to make sure the two agree.

Collecting money:

It is essential to keep cash received separate from your own money. Keep a cash box solely for the club's money, and write receipts in duplicate as soon as you receive the money. Hand one receipt to the person who pays you and the other one is your copy which should be kept in the book.

All cash and cheques should be deposited in the bank or building society as soon as possible after receiving it. Not only is this efficient administration, it also makes good financial sense, since money in the bank and building society accounts is likely to earn interest, and reduce banking charges.

Invoices:

If you send out invoices to collect some of your money, you will need a book that shows that an invoice has been issued and later confirms that is had been settled.

If you receive lots of invoices to pay, try to allow for these when the final accounts are prepared. Include the expenditure in the financial year to which it relates, irrespective of when the bill is actually paid. Debtors and Creditors at the year end should of course be included on the Balance Sheet.

Petty cash:

You will need to use cash for small payments where it is impractical or unreasonable to use a cheque. The petty cash needs to be handled carefully or it becomes difficult to control. A small analysis book (the petty cash book) is therefore needed to record the cash paid out, the cash received, and the balance in hand. This balance figure should be updated whenever any cash is received or paid out and checked against the actual cash in the cash box. If there is any discrepancy, it needs to be sorted out immediately.

Do not make the mistake of bundling all the money together over a few weeks or days. The longer you leave it, the more difficult and time consuming it will be to sort it out later.

Do not expect to remember who has given you what and don t take short cuts. Write everything down immediately in a book or a file. Do not be tempted to use just any convenient scrap of paper and sort it out later.

Preparing a budget:

A good Treasurer not only records details of what has happened but also what is likely to happen. This forecast (the budget) is very important for your organisation. When it is done well, it helps future planning and decision making, and allows you to decide whether to spend money, increase fees, or rethink your activities.

The detailed preparation of the budget is usually left to the Treasurer and one or two selected officers. However, it should always be discussed with the committee for modification and approval. The budget does not need to be presented to a general meeting, but in a small organisation you should involve the members, and keep them aware of what is happening. They are more likely to agree to an increase of fees or charges if they understand the financial pressures that the committee is facing.

Do not set a budget with a deficit, in the hope that something will turn up. Always aim for the budget to at least break even, and ideally build in a contingency fund. This caters for unexpected things that crop up during the year, or turn out to cost more than you anticipated.

Sometimes, you will find that your original budget was inaccurate, and it will then be worth preparing a revised budget forecast with a more accurate prediction of the final outcome for the year. You can then make decisions based on a clearer idea of the total funds that are available to you.

People who are going to have to work within a budget are much more likely to be careful with the money if they understand the reasons for the decisions, and were involved in setting the figures.

Statement of accounts:

The Treasurer should regularly prepare an up-to-date statement of accounts showing the receipts and payments to date, the budget for the year, and the balance left. Break down the totals into a few important headings. If you want to include invoices that you have issued but have not yet been paid in the totals, include only those invoices that you are confident will be paid.

Accounts prepared purely on the basis of money received or actually spent are termed Receipts and Payments Accounts. If invoices that have been issued or received by you are also included, it is termed an Income and Expenditure Account. Here is an example of the payments part of an account for a small sports club prepared halfway through its financial year. It also shows the original budget and a revised budget forecast.

Example

Item	Annual Budget	Payments to date	Present balances	Revised budget
Hire of facilities	200	120	80	240
Fees	250	125	125	250
Coaching	100	55	45	100
Registration Fees	25	25	0	25
Entry Fees	30	25	5	25
Admin	50	30	20	60
Travel	250	140	110	280
Printing	65	50	15	75
Sundry	30	10	20	30
Total (payments)	1000	500	420	1085

 
Balancing the bank account:

A bank statement is the bank's record of the organisation's finances. This record may not agree exactly with what is kept by the Treasurer in the cash book because it can take a few days for credits and debits to appear in a bank account.

Bank statements should be obtained regularly (monthly is usually about right) and be checked immediately against the books to reconcile the bank with these books. This enables you to keep up-to-date and identify any mistakes or discrepancies. It will be much easier to sort out any differences now, rather than several months later, and it helps to avoid having an overdraft, which is expensive.

Working with the committee:

The Treasurer needs to know what everybody else on the committee is doing and therefore should not work alone. Similarly, the rest of the committee ought to know the finances of the organisation.

Get your committee to agree that the Treasurer must be kept informed well in advance of any significant expenditure that is being planned, even if it is within the approved budget. This helps to avoid serious overspending or cash flow problems which could have serious cash flow problems which could have been prevented had the Treasurer known in advance.

All members of the committee share a responsibility to ensure that the organisation is financially viable, even though they might prefer not to have to worry about money. They should be informed about the financial situation and reminded at every opportunity that they have a responsibility to help look after the financial well being of the organisation.

Tips to remember:

• you only need to know two things about money, how to manage it and how to get more of it;
• every club or association, no matter how small, should keep proper accounts and prepare regular statements. Every year many sports organisations have to close down because of lack of financial control, or poor financial planning;
• an organisation which is slapdash in handling and accounting for its money is likely to be sloppy in other aspects of its work;
• money may not be the root of all evil, but when dealing with other peoples' money you can expect high levels of interest and emotion. They will always expect their money to be handled with extreme care and sensitivity. Not only must you look after the funds with scrupulous honesty, but you must be seen to do so;
• sports organisations must be seen to be honest, or no one will have confidence to contribute funds to them;
• it is wrong for people to steal, but it is also wrong to treat money so casually that people feel less conscience-stricken about stealing it, and less afraid of being discovered. Try to establish a system which prevents fraud, rather than one to discover or compensate for it;
• do not over estimate your ability to remember details of financial transactions-write them down;
• the important thing about accounting, apart from being accurate, is to be consistent, so that you can make meaningful comparisons from month to month, and from year to year;
• always give receipts for money received and get receipts for money paid out;
• keys to the safe or petty cash boxes should only be held by specified people who are always responsible for them;
• keep incoming and outgoing money separate;
• pay surplus cash into the bank promptly and use a paying-in book;  
• when opening mail or collecting tins containing cash, there should be at least two people present;
• budgeting is one of the most important financial functions for any sporting organisation, whether larger or small. Do not be tempted to try to manage without a budget, or you will be heading for financial difficulties.

The bottom line:

If you have been appointed as Treasurer of your club or association then with a little care and attention you can ensure its financial well being. You will get a great deal of satisfaction from playing such an important role, and you will have the respect and thanks of everybody around you.

If you feel under pressure, confused, or that you are losing control, seek help at once. Advise the Commodore or Secretary and ask for their agreement to getting some professional advise. Remember that you are a volunteer, not an accountant and you are making a vital contribution to the well-being of the club. It is much better to get some paid help to sort things out immediately, than for you to lose control of the finances, which may lead to the demise of the organisation.

If you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the Legal Team Tel:  0844 5569519  Email: legal@rya.org.uk.