Bookkeeping for Clubs, Societies & Charities
Servicing Australia wide including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth plus all regional & rural areas.
Keeping track of financial reports for a club, society, or charity can be a lot of hard work and can prove very challenging. If you’re involved in the day-to-day administration of a club, society, or charity, you would know that many of these organisations are working within tight financial constraints and often rely on volunteers to help manage the finances. Picking out the right bookkeeping software will make the process much easier for volunteers and staff alike to manage the finances of the organisation, and allow for greater transparency in the process. What should you look for when choosing accounting software to handle bookkeeping for clubs, societies, and charities?
The Importance of Professional Bookkeeping for Clubs, Societies, and Charities
In many ways, clubs, societies, and charities are similar to other types of businesses, and as such should adopt best practices when it comes to finances. It’s important to understand the viability of your organisation because it will have a direct impact on its future, which in turn affects volunteers, staff, and those who rely on your services. Bookkeeping for clubs, societies, and charities can be as highly regulated as bookkeeping for business, with laws and regulations differing from state to state. That means there are common law and statutory responsibilities that directors of clubs, societies, and charities will need to follow.
Directors must act honestly, competently, and in good faith, and in the best interest of the organisation.
It is important to determine who will run the finances of your organisation and establish how much authority they will have when it comes to solving problems as they arise. Any organisation should have a variety of office bearers – either paid, volunteer, or a combination of both – who will take responsibility for the club and serve on a board. Office bearers will have certain legal responsibilities as directors are usually given titles such as Chairperson, President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
The directors of a club, society, or charity should be able to:
- Handle the management of the organisation
- Comprehend the fundamentals of the organisation’s business activities
- Monitor the club’s policies
- Keep up to date with the organisation’s activities and assess the management team’s business practices
- Keep up to date with the organisation’s financial status
- Check into different matters when necessary.
A bookkeeping and accounting solution should have the ability to:
- Easily manage the organisation’s finances
- Comply with specific and general tax requirements
- Save time on banking and data entry
- Set up, track, and keep within budgets
- Invoice members using online invoicing services
- Collaborate with office bearers and accountants
- Generate the necessary reports
- Keep your data in a safe place cloud-based location.
Why Clubs, Societies, and Charities Shouldn’t Tackle Their Own Bookkeeping
It is important to have excellent bookkeeping and accounting practices if you’re running a club, society, or charity. Using an outsourced bookkeeper can help you manage your organisation’s finances, and Free My Cloud can give you access to experienced bookkeepers who are well-versed in bookkeeping for clubs, societies, and charities. The right bookkeeper is one that is reputable, hardworking, and reliable, and can add value to any organisation.
Why shouldn’t an organisation tackle their own bookkeeping? Because, although you may save a small amount in the short term by doing your own bookkeeping, hiring a professional bookkeeper with experience in bookkeeping for clubs, societies, and charities can save you money in the long term. This is because bookkeeping can be far more difficult and time-consuming than it may initially appear, and an inexperienced person can spend hours struggling with bookkeeping tasks that would take a professional a fraction of the time to complete.
There are several errors that can be made by organisations handling their own bookkeeping including:
- Calculation errors that include incorrect totalling, missing sub totals, and totals in the yearly informational statement
- Reporting errors that include stating the charity size incorrectly
- Reporting errors that include financial information that is irrelevant to the registered organisation
- Not providing a fully finished set of financial statements.
These are areas where an experienced bookkeeper can add value to your organisation. If you want to focus on your club, society or charity without worrying about maintaining compliance with financial regulations, working with an experienced bookkeeper allows you to outsource your financial obligations, leaving you free to concentrate on running your organisation. Finding the right bookkeeper is as simple as contacting Free My Cloud today and allowing us to put you in touch with a low-cost, experienced bookkeeper who can take care of your organisation’s bookkeeping with ease.