It cannot be stressed enough that this is one of the most important aspects of running your organisation. Committee members are jointly and independently liable for any bad financial decisions, or bad money management.

A number of procedures can be put in place to avoid difficult situations arising or becoming out of control, including:

never sign, or ask someone else to sign, a blank cheque or one which is only partially completed
never leave anyone in sole charge of the finances
check the stub against the cheque, and look at previous stubs before signing
ensure at least two people sign cheques - one of whom should be the Treasurer
have a receipt for all monies spent - whether paid for by cash or cheque
do not cash cheques for large amounts of petty cash

To hold large amounts of inactive cash in floats is counter-productive. It is far better to use a bank account such as a Treasurer’s account which generates interest while the cash is awaiting use.

It is advisable to inform the bank if you are a charity as interest should then be added gross to the account. The bank will require a copy of your confirmation of charitable status letter from the Inland Revenue.

Where Committee members, or others, opt not to accept travel expenses arrange that they complete a travel expense form anyway and donate it back to the organisation. This ensures that you accurately reflect the running costs of the organisation and can make adequate allowances for travel costs when applying to funders for grants. It also means that enough money is available for when someone finds themselves in the position of needing to claim back their expenses.

Have a responsible person (preferably the Treasurer) to keep records of money in and out on a regular (preferably weekly, and at most monthly) basis. DON’T wait till your AGM is a month away to put your accounts in order.

TAX EFFECTIVE GIVING