Club Financial Management
Managing your money is an essential part of good club management and is vital to running a sustainable sports club.
Although managing the day-to-day finances of your club can seem a daunting or tedious task, if you have thorough planning & budgeting in place, it will support your club in the long term.
“We know it can be a challenge to manage your clubs finances and understand your financial position – there’s lots to think about, like having the right processes and practices in place, financial forecasting, monitoring your finances, generating income and being aware of any tax implications that may affect your club” Clubmatters
This collection has been created by Jenni Anderson;
- Runner/triathlete and England Athletics member
- Has been a Club Committee member (Secretary)
- 20+ years working in the non-profit sector on income generation, governance and
strategy - Diploma in Charity Accounting (DChA) (but not an accountant!)
- Build member trust and confidence in the club and committee
- Create a positive member experience helping you to have fun
- Plan ahead for your activities and set realistic financial targets for both income and expenditure
- Give you the tools for effective decision making and creates smooth administration processes
- Articulate to club members what their fees are spent on
- Protect volunteers
- Identify risks and put in place actions to mitigate them
- Build financial sustainability for the long-term
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Ensure you have the right people to support financial planning and management: Committee, Treasurer, Fundraiser, access to VAT/accounting specialities
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Put financial management on the agenda of your next committee meeting
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Discuss financial mangement for your club, based on your vision, objectives, and capacity (one size does not fit all)
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Ensure you have an independent bank account with two signatories and that the bank account reviewed monthly and reconciled
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Identify budgets and budget holders for different areas of club operations. For example is a budget set for – training and development, reward and recognition, equipment costs, events etc..
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Review your existing policies around finance and plan to update them where necessary – don’t forget to communicate the updates to members
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Produced annual accounts that are independently scrutinised and made available to members
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Commit to reviewing the budget and forecast at least every quarter
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Set Sufficient income set aside for reserves and contingency
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Transparency and reporting – tell your members what and why you take financial management seriously and what it means for them, don’t just wait for the AGM to do this.
- Does your club committee understand their responsibilities towards club finances?
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Great! This will help ensure club finances are well managed responsibility and for the good of the club.
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Whilst financial duties can be delegated to the treasurer and other supporting volunteers, financial responsibility can not – this lies with the club committee and should be highlighted in your constitution. You could start by updating existing committee members, and may wish to include as part of the induction for new members.
- Does club finance feature as a regular agenda item at club committee meetings?
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Great! Keeping all committee members updated on financial planning and management will help engagement and enable committee members to make informed decisions.
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Adding cub finance to the agenda will ensure that all committee members are kept updated on club finances. This will help with engagement and enable committee members to make informed decisions on club activity.
- Does your club implement internal controls to help manage financials and limit risk?
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Well done! ! This will help protect volunteers and reduce financial risk.
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Controls should be put in place to protect volunteers and reduce financial risk. This may include you have an independent bank account with two signatories and that the bank account reviewed monthly and reconciled. Watch the bitseize video below on "Internal Controls".
- Does your club review income streams particularly membership fees?
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Great, reviewing income streams along with expediture will ensure you can cover all costs associated with running a cub.
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Reviewing your projected expediture and previous membership data may help you decide on an appropriate membership fee. Any increases in fees can be aligned to expediture rather than adhoc increases.
- Does your club have a finance policy and procedures that are appropriate to your club?
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Great, having policies and procedure will help everyone at the club understand how club finance are managed and provide clear processes for members to follow.
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The purpose of creating a set of finance policies and procedures is to provide the framework to help you so that you don’t have to waste time making small, routine decisions on finance and can focus on the athletics. Check out the related resources below to help you.
- Does your club ensure that all club members can access financial reporting and decision making?
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Great! Being transparent, open and honest about your club finances, its financial position and where and why it spends its money will create a positive experience for members and also help your volunteer role to be about the fun, not the administration.
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Good financial management builds member trust and confidence in the club and committee. Sharing meeting minutes, financial reports, updating members on financial decisions regularly and not just at the AGM will help engage members. You should also check out the requirements for reporting specific to your legal structure.
- Do you have contingency plans and or reserves available?
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Well done! Having reserves will help provide a working capital to protect core club activity, provide funding for unexpected opportunities and provide cover for unforeseen expenditure or loss of income.
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Reserves can be described a rainy fund and should be set out in a reserve policy. What you use your reserve for is up to you but it will help provide a working capital to protect core club activity, provide funding for unexpected opportunities and provide cover for unforeseen expenditure or loss of income.
- Do you have a finance plan that includes budgeting, forecasting and projection?
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Great! Hopefully your planning helps to you to manage income/expenditure and plan for club activity.
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Not having a plan or a clear budget/forecast can make it difficult to make decisions on club activity. Use the club finance guide to help you create a plan.