Good financial management of our community groups is critical – regardless of the size of your organisation’s bank balance. Some simple processes can easily be put in place to help you strengthen your organisation’s practices.
Make sure any transactions on your bank account require two signatories – sounds simple, but it surprises me how many groups still only require one person to sign cheques or use internet banking.
For transparency purposes, I always suggest trying to avoid using cash. Internet banking or cheques create a paper trail, which makes your finances much more transparent (these days most people are comfortable using internet banking, and it is certainly quicker and easier than posting cheques or handing over cash!)
If you are given cash, make sure you issue receipts. This may seem pointless when people don’t care whether or not you give them one, but at least you have a record for the purposes of your group’s book-keeping.
While the Treasurer is the person that generally does all the work to keep the organisation’s books in order, all committee members have a duty to scrutinise that work and to ask a question if they don’t understand what the Treasurer is presenting in his/her financial reports.
I was recently made aware of a great new resource for Treasurers (and other committee members, for that matter) called ‘Damn Good Advice for Treasurers – 25 Questions a not-for-profit Treasurer needs to ask’. It has been produced by Our Community in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank and can be ordered (free of charge) via the Our Community website.
That same partnership has also developed an information session ‘10 things every Board members should ask their Treasurer’. This session was delivered at a previous Our Community’s Board Builder conference, but contact them to find out when and where it will be delivered again.
You can download this Blog Post as a tip sheet by clicking here:Tip Sheet_ Financial Management – Tips and Tools Aug 17, 2016
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