Volunteer Treasurer Basics

Volunteer Treasurer Basics Skill

Nobody becomes a club treasurer because they love bookkeeping; they become treasurer because they missed the meeting. The good news: a small organization's finances need a system, not an accountant — one cashbook, one monthly reconciliation, one honest report format, and a handful of controls whose real purpose is protecting the treasurer from ever being suspected of anything. This skill sets that up in an afternoon, and is blunt about the line where "basics" ends and a real accountant or the charity regulator's rules begin.

What This Skill Produces

• A cashbook setup: the columns (date, what, who, in, out, balance, category), category list sized to the org (6–10, not 40), and where it lives (a spreadsheet is fine; consistency beats software)
• The monthly routine: 20 minutes — enter, reconcile against the bank, chase the missing receipts, file
• A treasurer's report template members understand: money in, money out, balance, vs-this-time-last-year, and the one-line health sentence
• The controls list: dual authorization on payments, no-cash-alone rule, receipts threshold, subs tracking — the protect-the-treasurer set
• Escalation flags: the signs this org has outgrown basics (regulated charity thresholds, employees, VAT-ish turnover — verify locally)

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• The organization: type, rough annual money in/out, bank setup, any regulator registration (charity number etc. — changes obligations; flag, don't guess)
• What they inherited: a tidy file, a shoebox, or nothing
• The money patterns: subs, events, grants, cash at the bar/gate?
• Who else can sign/approve, and what the constitution says about accounts

Framework

1. One cashbook, entered weekly, reconciled monthly. Every movement gets a line the week it happens. Monthly: cashbook balance vs bank statement — they match or the difference is FOUND, not shrugged ("unpresented cheque" is an answer; "dunno, close enough" is next year's crisis).
2. Categories serve the report, not an accountant. 6–10 that answer member questions: subs, events, equipment, venue, insurance, admin, grants, other. If a category never appears in a question, merge it.
3. Cash is the danger zone. The rules that protect the treasurer: two people count cash at events and both initial the total · banked within days, uncounted cash never sleeps at home unlogged · a float log with signatures. Frame stays "protects you from suspicion" — it's true, and it makes adoption easy.
4. Dual control on money out. Two authorizers on payments above a small threshold (bank dual-approval or documented email approval) · the treasurer never approves their own expenses · receipts for everything above a named trivial amount. These four lines are the audit.
5. Report so members actually know. In / out / balance / same-time-last- year / one sentence ("we're £400 ahead of last year because the quiz night worked"). Attach the cashbook for anyone who wants it — openness is the cheapest control there is.
6. Know the exits. Independent examination when the constitution or size demands it · regulator thresholds (charity registration, gift-aid style schemes, employment) all get verify-local flags · and the standing advice: when the org hires, borrows, or crosses regulator lines, buy an hour of real accountancy.

Output Format

## Your cashbook (set up today)
[Columns · category list for THIS org · where it lives]

## Monthly routine (20 min)
[The 4 steps · the reconciliation rule verbatim]

## Treasurer's report template
[The five lines + health sentence, with this org's examples]

## Controls (adopt at next committee meeting)
[The protect-the-treasurer set, as motions ready to propose]

## When basics stop being enough
[The escalation flags — each marked verify-local]

Quality Checks

• The reconciliation rule appears verbatim: differences are found, not shrugged
• Cash controls frame as treasurer-protection and require two initials
• The report template fits on one page and includes the comparison line
• All regulatory thresholds are verify-local flags — none asserted
• The controls are written as proposable motions, because controls that aren't minuted don't exist

Anti-Patterns

• Do not prescribe accounting software for a £3k/year club — the spreadsheet discipline IS the system
• Do not let the treasurer be sole counter, approver, and payee of anything
• Do not write the report in accountant-speak; members fund what they understand
• Do not give tax/charity-law advice — flag and route to the regulator's own guidance or a professional

Related

[[agm-in-a-box]] — where the annual report lands; [[committee-handover-pack]] for passing the books on; [[budget-variance-analysis]] when the org grows a real budget.