You open the bank statement on a Tuesday evening and find a kit supplier payment, a pitch hire invoice, three card receipts from Saturday's bar, and a deposit from the under-16s tour. They all sit in the same account, and nothing on the statement tells you which money belongs to whom. If you are the treasurer of a rugby or football club, this is the usual starting point. The money is real, the committee wants answers, and the cash book has to make sense before the next meeting.
The problem: kit orders, tour deposits and match-day takings all land in the same bank account
Most clubs run one current account. Subscriptions, sponsorship, bar takings, gate money, kit payments and tour deposits all go through it. That is fine for paying the bills, but it hides the question the committee will eventually ask: how much of the balance is actually free to spend?
A tour deposit is money held for other people. It may be refundable if a player drops out, and it will be spent on a specific trip. Kit money is often collected in advance for an order that has not arrived. Match-day takings may be partly owed back to a visiting club or to a sponsor. If all of this sits in one pot, the bank balance looks healthy when it is not. It is easy to pay for a pitch booking in March with money that was meant for a coach in June.
The fix is not complicated, but it does need a decision. Work out which money is restricted to a purpose and which is general. Then keep a record that shows the split.
Using separate funds so tour money is not spent on pitch hire
In Vasker a fund is a named pot inside the cash book. You might have a general fund for day-to-day running costs, a tour fund, a kit fund and a match-day fund. Each transaction is posted to one fund, so the cash book shows what each pot holds at any time.
Set the funds up before the money arrives. Name them plainly so that anyone reading the report can follow them. "Tour 2026 deposits" is clearer than "Fund 3". When a deposit comes in, post it to the tour fund. When the coach is paid, post the payment there too. The general fund then shows only what the club can use for pitch hire, insurance and referee fees.
The free plan covers a starter cash book with one fund. That is enough to learn the habit, but most clubs that run a tour or a kit order soon want more than one. The Standard plan adds full books and as many funds as you need, which is where ring-fencing becomes practical. Check the current plan details on the site before you decide, because prices and limits can change.
If a tour is cancelled and the deposits are refunded, the fund still tells the story. You can show the committee the money in, the money back and the balance, without reconstructing it from emails.
Recording cash from the bar or gate before it reaches the bank
Match-day cash is the part most treasurers dread. Notes and coins are counted in a corner of the clubhouse, put in a bag, and banked the following week. By the time the figures reach the spreadsheet, nobody remembers which Saturday they came from.
A simple routine helps. Count the float before the first sale and write the figure down. Count the takings at the end of the session and note the total, the float, and the number of people who counted. Put the cash in a sealed bag with the sheet inside. Bank it as soon as you can, and post the total to the match-day fund on the same day.
The Vasker cash book needs a connection to work. It does not record offline. If you are at the bar with no signal, keep the paper sheet and enter the totals when you are back online. Do not rely on memory for the figures.
Some match-day money is not donations. Bar sales, entry fees and programme sales are normally income from trading, not Gift Aid eligible gifts. If a supporter makes a donation on the day, Gift Aid may apply, but only with a valid declaration. This is general information, not tax advice. Check current HMRC guidance for your organisation before you claim anything.
What the committee needs to see each month
Committees rarely want the full cash book. They want to know three things: what came in, what went out, and what is left in each pot. They also want to know whether anything is overdue.
A one-page monthly report that shows each fund's opening balance, income, spending and closing balance answers most questions. Add a short note for anything unusual, such as a late tour payment or a bar float that did not balance. If a fund is restricted, show it separately so the committee can see the general balance without the tour deposits inside it.
Keep the report consistent from month to month. If the format changes, the committee will spend the meeting asking about the format instead of the money. Use the same fund names and the same layout, and write one sentence on what changed.
Where Standard plan books and reports fit, and what the free plan covers
The free plan is a sensible place to start. It gives you a starter cash book with one fund, so you can record match-day takings, kit payments and tour deposits in one place and see the balance. It suits a small club that has one pot of money and a treasurer who wants to try the system before committing.
The Standard plan (£59 a year) is for clubs that need full books. It covers multiple funds, members and subscriptions, committee reports and grant matching. If your tour, kit and match-day money need to be kept apart and reported separately, this is the plan that does that.
The Plus plan (£119 a year) adds Gift Aid and GASDS claim tooling and examiner access tools. It is relevant only if your club collects qualifying donations and wants help building claims. It is not needed for match-day cash on its own.
Whichever plan you choose, the first step is the same. Create the organisation, set up the first fund and post one month of transactions. You can see whether the split works before you spend anything. Start free and set up your first fund in a few minutes at https://vasker.co.uk/. Vasker is general information for volunteer treasurers and not legal, tax or accounting advice. Check Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI guidance for your organisation, and current HMRC guidance on Gift Aid, before you rely on any rule described here.