CLUB FINANCES
This is a guide for treasurers and club executives on how to manage and oversee club finances for reporting, budgeting and overall management.
Reporting
All clubs are required to manage and document their finances year-round in your club's TidyHQ finances module. We recommend that you complete the Financial Workshop & Treasurer Training as soon as you are elected into this role. All Income and expenses MUST be recorded in the platform.
Examples of income may include:
- Membership fees (cash or online)
- Guild Sponsorship Grant,
- Event Grant/s,
- Event ticket sales,
- Club merchandise sales,
- External sponsorship (list each sponsor individually),
- Cash deposits, refunds etc.
Examples of expenses may include:
- Event costs (break down into individual events),
- Equipment purchases,
- Merchandise purchases,
- Facebook advertising,
- Graphic design costs, etc.
Other items to report and keep record of are:
- Assets (petty cash, equipment etc)
- Liabilities (outstanding bills)
Financial Transparency
The treasurer should be staying up-to-date with data entry within your club’s TidyHQ account throughout the year to ensure transactions references in the platform are labelled clearly so that the Guild, your members and committee can identify what each transaction was for.
At the end of the year, you must generate a financial statement report for your Annual General Meeting which you can download easily within TidyHQ. The platform has plenty of help articles to assist with this: Here’s an example.
To prepare for this, you must ensure that your TidyHQ finances & transactions are up-to-date and you have cross refferenced this with your bank account statements. Refer to the Guild's Financial Workshop & Treasurer Training.
Online Payments
When accepting online payments for merchandise or membership fees, we suggest using Stripe. Create an account with an official club email address. Don't forget that memberships MUST run through TidyHQ.
Regular Checks
All executive committee should check the finances module in TidyHQ regulary. If a treasurer is not doing their job or is out of action, other club admin can reveiw the finances module in TidyHQ and take-over when necessary to ensure the current balance, transactions are reconciled as needed.
Regular Updates
Update your finances module in TidyHQ throughout the year, not just before your AGM!
This is important because:
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Your club can be audited at any time,
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Club committee changeovers happen from time-to-time so it would be very difficult for a new treasurer to come in halfway through the year and have to start from scratch with no knowledge of the clubs financials during that year. This can cause major problems when developing your AGM report and renewing your club affiliation with the Guild. Don't put the future of your club in jeopardy.
Regularly update TidyHQ transactions by:
- Reconciling your transactions in TidyHQ against your bank statements regulary. Mark the line item (transactions) as "reconcilied" as you do this.
- Identify any errors, missing transactions and correct them or seek assistance to identify any losses.
Accessibility
Ensure the required executive committee have admin access to the finances module.
This is important because:
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If the treasurer is replaced or refuses their duties, other committee members can provide a new treasurer with access so that they can pick up where the previous treasurer left off. Contact the Guild Clubs Officer if there are access issues.
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Fellow committee members can ensure that all monies have been accounted for.
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Fellow committee members can ensure that the treasurer is keeping up with their duties.
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If the treasurer is unable to fulfil their duties due to unfortunate circumstances, another committee member can step in with immediate access.
Petty Cash
If your club handles cash, document your cash transactions in a petty cash journal.
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If you do this on paper during events such as O-Day, ensure that this is copied into your online version as soon as possible or take a photo.
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Make sure your paper journal and online journal match.
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Make sure exact expenditure is agreed upon by your club committee before club funds are spent. It is recommended that you document this in writing to avoid issues.
Reimbursements
If your committee members are spending their own funds and are promised a reimbursement from the club, make sure that you have a process in place. Discuss and plan the reimbursement process with your committee at a meeting PRIOR to agreeing to your first reimbursement.
Make sure to cover things like:
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Remind club committee members that they should NEVER spend their own funds without official approval, in writing. Discuss a safeguard with your committee. e.g. will you require more than one club executive's authority to authorise a spend?
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Reimbursement claims must be signed by two club executive members.
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Reimbursement claims must be submitted within a certain time frame to avoid budgeting issues. e.g. one month.
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Reimbursements claims must be processed within a certain time frame. e.g. seven days.
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Proof of expenditure. e.g. receipt, proof of payment must be provided to support the claim and uploaded into TidyHQ (withing the transaction update there is an option to attach documents.