New club treasurer checklist: your first month

Week 1: the handover

Meet the outgoing treasurer in person if you can, and collect:

• the cash book or spreadsheet for the current year, and last year's annual report;
• bank statements for the current year and the cheque book or paying-in book, if there is one;
• receipts and invoices for the current year;
• the cash tin and any float;
• a list of regular payments (hall hire, insurance, subscriptions to a national body) and when each falls due;
• a list of who has paid their membership subscription and who has not;
• a copy of the constitution or rules.

Count the cash together. Count the tin with the outgoing treasurer or another committee member present. Write the amount and the date on a sheet of paper and both sign it. This protects you both.

Week 1: read the money rules

Find the finance section of your constitution and note the answers to these questions:

• What are the first and last days of the financial year?
• Who may sign cheques or approve online payments, and how many people must approve each one?
• Must the annual accounts be examined or audited by someone independent, and who appoints that person?
• When must the accounts be presented to members?
• Is there a spending limit above which the committee must agree a payment first?

If your organisation is a registered charity or a company, it will also have duties to a regulator. Check the regulator's current guidance for your country. For the role in general, see the Wikipedia article on the treasurer.

Week 2: the bank

• Ask the bank for its form to change the people who may operate the account, and have the committee approve the change at a meeting so that it appears in the minutes.
• Remove the outgoing treasurer and anyone else who has left the committee.
• Keep at least two people on the account, and keep the rule that no one approves a payment to themselves.
• Arrange for statements to reach you, on paper or online.
• Change any shared password the day you take over.

Banks can take several weeks over a change of signatories, so start this early.

Week 2: agree the opening balances

Your starting figures are the closing figures from the last annual report: one for cash and one for bank. Before you rely on them:

• check that the bank figure matches the bank statement on the last day of that year, allowing for cheques that had not cleared;
• bring the cash book up to today with the entries made since the year end;
• check that today's cash balance in the book equals the cash you counted at the handover.

If something does not agree, raise it with the outgoing treasurer and the chair now, in writing. It is far easier to sort out in your first month than at the year end.

Week 3: set up your cash book

• Decide on a short list of categories for money in and money out, and keep to it.
• Enter the opening cash and bank balances.
• Enter every receipt and payment so far this year, in date order.
• Number your receipts and write the same number in the cash book.
• Check the sum: opening balance + receipts - payments = closing balance, for cash and for bank.

The guide How to keep a simple cash book for a club explains each of these steps.

Week 3: everyday habits

• Give a written receipt for cash you are handed, and keep a copy.
• Pay cash into the bank promptly instead of letting it build up in the tin or at home.
• Never mix club money with your own, even for a day.
• Ask for a receipt or invoice before you repay anyone's expenses.
• Write up the cash book on the day money moves.

Week 4: your first report and your diary

• Compare the cash book with the latest bank statement and count the tin.
• Give the committee a short report: balances in cash and bank, money in and out since the last meeting, and any bills coming up.
• Put these dates in your diary: the last day of the financial year, the date of the annual meeting, the renewal date of the insurance, and the date by which the examiner needs the books.
• Tell the committee who holds the records and where, in case you are unwell.