Finance - Records

Record Keeping

LALG groups will differ in their record keeping requirements and some groups will have no need for any at all!   If you take subscriptions or other financial contributions from your group, you will need some way of accounting for them.  This enables you to keep track of how the money you have collected has been spent and to avoid the group running into financial difficulties.  You may wish to appoint a treasurer who does this on the group’s behalf.

Simple Accounting

Groups that simply collect a small sum from participants each meeting and use it to pay the expenses for that meeting need nothing more than a record of income and expenditure.  This might be in a notebook or you can set up a simple recording system on your computer. For example:

Date

Details

Income

Expenditure

Balance

1/4/18

Brought forward kitty

£3.50

 

£3.50

13/4/18

April meeting dues - 6 members at £2 each

£12.00

 

£15.50

13/4/18

Room hire

 

£11.00

£4.50

13/4/18

Refreshments

 

£3.00

£1.50

15/5/18

May meeting dues – 10 members at £2 each

£20.00

 

£21.50

15/5/18

Room hire

 

£11.00

£10.50

15/5/18

Refreshments

 

£5.00

£5.50

8/6/18

May meeting dues – 9 members at £2 each

£18.00

 

£23.50

8/6/18

Room hire

 

£11.00

£12.50

8/6/18

Refreshments

 

£4.50

£8.00

This way you can always see what balance you should have in your kitty and adjust what members pay accordingly.

But if your group shares costs over the medium or longer term, for example to hire a sports facility for a few weeks, then it is wise to ask members to make a non-refundable payment up front so that the organiser does not risk being left out of pocket if members do not attend regularly.   For example:

Date

Details

Income

Expenditure

Balance

1/4/18

Brought forward kitty

£3.50

 

£3.50

1/4/18

Subs from:

Ann

Bob

Carol

Dan

Ellen

etc.

8 at £33 each

£264.00

 

£267.50

1/4/18

Court hire 1 Apr -30 Jun (10 sessions at £26)

 

£260.00

£7.50

1/7/18

 Subs from:

Ann

Bob

Carol

Dan

Ellen

etc

8 at £33 each

£264.00

 

£271.50

1/7/18

Court hire  1 Jul -30 Sep (10 sessions at £26)

 

£260.00

£11.50

This way you can always see what balance you should have in your kitty and adjust what members pay accordingly.

It is good practice to show the income and expenditure at least once a year to members of the group.   At the same time the group can decide whether any changes are needed to the amount collected.