Club Finances

It is compulsory for all clubs registered with the Guild in 2024 to create and maintain an Income Statement. This income statement will be presented to your club members during the Annual General Meeting and will need to be submitted to the Guild to renew affiliation in the following year. An income statement outlines all income and expenses the club had for the year.

Because club executives are typically elected for each calendar year, we require that financial reports are also done this way.

To make reporting easier for you, we have created a Club Monthly and Yearly Income Statement on Google Sheets. You can click on the link and duplicate the template for your club.

It’s vital that clubs keep ALL their invoices and receipts throughout the year. Keeping your receipt is crucial to ensuring that you receive your Guild grant reimbursements.

We highly recommend that you keep both physical and digital copies of all your receipts. Ensure that all your soft copy receipts are legible, and that the photo of your receipt is clear to read. You also need to ensure that your receipts include GST in order for your grant reimbursements to come through.

One of the best ways to keep all your soft copy receipts throughout the year is to create a Google Drive folder with your Income Statement sheet and sub-folders with receipts for each month (example below).

All executive members should check the club finances regularly. By setting up a shared Google drive under the club Gmail account, executive members can ensure that the club finances are being regularly updated.

If the treasurer is out of action, other club admin can review the finances folder and take over when necessary to ensure the current balances and transactions are reconciled as needed.

Ensure the required executive committee have editor access to the Google finance folder.

This is important because:

• 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.
• Fellow committee members can ensure that all monies have been accounted for.
• Fellow committee members can ensure that the treasurer is keeping up with their duties.
• If the treasurer is unable to fulfil their duties due to unfortunate circumstances, another committee member can step in with immediate access.

If your club handles cash, document your cash transactions in a petty cash journal.

• If you do this on paper during events, ensure that this is copied into your online version as soon as possible or take a photo.
• Make sure your paper journal and online journal match.
• 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.

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:

• 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?
• Reimbursement claims must be signed by two club executive members.
• Reimbursement claims must be submitted within a certain time frame to avoid budgeting issues. e.g. one month.
• Reimbursements claims must be processed within a certain time frame. e.g. seven days.