If your group has started to raise funds then it is important that you understand your accountability for this money and are able to show how it has been used. In order to do this you must have basic financial controls and a basic level of bookkeeping, to show exactly how your money has been spent.

Each transaction must be backed up by receipts and it should be clear what the money was used for.

You will need to decide procedures and financial controls:

• Do you need a bank account?
• If you have a bank account, how many signatories will you have and who will be signatories?
• How many signatories will be required to authorise a payment?
• How will you maintain accurate accounts records and reconcile with bank statements?
• Do you need a petty cash float?
• How will the money be kept secure?
• Who will authorise cash payments?
• How will you maintain accurate records of petty cash?
• What will be your procedure for reconciling the petty cash float?

It may be useful to write a Finance Policy so that your procedures are clear.

It is useful to write a short summary of the accounts at the end of your financial year. This will also help your group to know how you are doing financially at points during the year, and to make informed decisions on future budgeting and fundraising activities. This does not need to be complex, or even too time consuming if you are not hugely active financially. It is merely a way to show that you are using the money as you said you would, and responsibly.

Annual Reports

If you have a turnover of more than £5000 a year then you have to register with the Charity Commission, which in turn means you are required to produce a yearly annual report.

Links

Good practice guides from WYCAS on accounting, financial controls and governance

The Southampton City Council has written a great resource on starting up a small community group, and although this is more comprehensive than just finance you can jump to different parts of the document via links in the top menu. This looks at bank accounts, insurance, accounting, bookkeeping, the role of the treasurer and more.

Accounting

The Guardian has written a great article with useful links about this here.

WYCAS has a range of accounting tools including cashbook templates (useful if you need to keep track of different funds).

The Resource Centre has created a simple accounts system for small groups which you can use to keep track of your incomings and outgoings (useful if you do not need to keep track of different funds).

Community Accounting provides templates for your end of year accounts summary which you can then edit to fit your group.

Financial Controls

Resources from NCVO

Charity Commission guidance on financial controls

The Blyth Valley CVA has produced a short overview of basic financial controls for small community groups.

Annual Reports

You can find more information and templates for these here at the Resource Centre.

There is also info on the preparation of these reports on the Charity Commission website.

Groups may wish to open a bank account if they want to do activities that require a lot of funding. This is not essential, and if groups can find a charity who is willing to hold their money and accounts for them, they can keep hold their money elsewhere. However, in terms of groups doing their own bookkeeping and being aware of the funds they have, as well as for funding bids, it can prove beneficial.

You are allowed to have an income of anything upto £5000 a year before you have to register as a charity with the Charity Commission. Anything over this and you have legally have to register. For more information on this, please visit our Governance section.

Making the process easier

Opening a bank account is something that a lot of our groups have found to be quite tricky.
Although legally 50% of your trustees can be asylum seekers, groups may find that having people still within the asylum system as trustees may cause problems and delays when trying to set up a bank account. This will depend on the policies of the bank and it is worth doing some research first before applying.

See also this page on opening a bank account.

What type of account should we open and with which bank?

When looking into where to open an account, for small groups it is worth looking into Community Accounts. These can be found with most major high street banks in the UK, and for more information please read this useful page.

Ethical Banking

Many of our groups are concerned with ethical banking. A great resource looking at the most ethical banks is Move your Money, which recommends:
Triodos Bank
The Charity Bank
The Co-operative Bank

We bank with the Co-operative, and you can find an article on the ethics of the Co-op since it was bailed out here.

It is also worth looking at Credit Unions financial co-operatives which are owned and controlled by the members, and you can find your nearest one here.

Your group may keep a petty cash float for events and expenses. It is advisable to keep the use of cash to a minimum and it is crucial that your float is kept in a secure place.

You will need to keep an accurate ‘petty cash book’ where each transaction is recorded. This should be backed up by receipts.

You will also need a procedure for reconciling your petty cash book where you will count the cash you have and check it is the amount you were expecting based on the receipts that you have. Any petty cash count should be checked by a second person.

Links

WYCAS guide on dealing with cash

Usually your constitution will include the requirement that you produce annual accounts. If you are registered as a charity or CIO, you need to submit your annual accounts in a particular format within 10 months of the end of your financial year.

If your income is over £25,000 but less than £250,000, you need to arrange an independent examination of your accounts.

Links

WYCAS good practice guides

Guidance from the Charity Commission for groups in England and Wales

Detailed guidance from the Charity Commission on charity reporting and accounting

Insurance is something that you may wish to consider if you will be holding events – in case anything happens, such as damage to the event space or an accident at the event. The most likely type of insurance you would want to get it “Public Liability” insurance. Here is the Resource Centre’s page which explains a bit more about this. If your group has trustees, you may wish to get “Trustee Liability” insurance, which removes some of the risks of being a trustee that are discussed in the Governance section.

Links

The Small Charities Coalition has compiled a list of many different guides on insurance and risk assessment. KnowHow NonProfit’s page on insurance and volunteers. An incredibly thorough and comprehensive document from the NCVO detailing on every type of insurance a small charity or nonprofit may wish to consider. A list of suppliers from the Resource Centre, some of whom are specific to South East England.