The treasurer's report is next on the agenda. Half the room is looking at their phones, and the other half is looking at you. You have a spreadsheet open on the laptop and a bank statement in a folder, and you know the committee will ask one question about the playground money before the meeting is over.
This is the part of the job nobody trains you for. The books can be correct and the meeting can still go badly, if the figures are hard to follow. This post is about the page you put in front of people, and how to keep the numbers behind it so you can answer what comes next.
What the committee actually needs
Most committee members want four things from the treasurer's report:
- Where the money came from.
- Where it went.
- What is left in the bank.
- What has been set aside for a particular purpose.
They do not need every transaction. They do not need to know what a journal is. If your report answers those four points clearly, most of the discussion will be about what the club does next, which is usually the reason for the meeting.
Using a PTA as the worked example
Take a parent teacher association (PTA) as an example. Its income is likely to come from a uniform sale, class gifts, a summer event and perhaps a few membership or subscription payments. Its spending might include the uniform stock, the summer event costs, a contribution to the school library and a larger amount being saved for the playground.
That last item is the one that causes trouble. If the playground money sits in the same account as everything else, the committee will assume the whole bank balance is available to spend. It is not. Part of it has been given for a specific purpose, and the report should say so.
The uniform sale is a good example of a line that needs context. If the income is higher than last year, say why in one sentence: a larger stock order, a different sale date, or a change in price. Do not leave the figure to speak for itself. Members will read a rise as good news, but they will also ask whether it will happen again.
Class gifts need the same care. Record them against the class or event they came from, and say so in the report if it helps. A line that reads "class gifts: the total for the year" is more useful than a figure with no explanation attached.
One page, not twelve
The best format is one page. Resist the urge to print every ledger tab. A committee cannot discuss twelve pages in the time you have.
The page should show two things side by side:
- Income and expenditure for this year, with last year's figures beside it in the next column. The comparison matters more than the totals. It tells the room what has changed.
- The bank balance split by fund. Show how much is free to spend and how much is restricted, with the restricted amount named (for example, "playground fund").
Keep the wording plain. Use "money we can spend" and "money set aside for the playground" rather than terms the committee might not use day to day. If a member wants the detail, the page should let you point to it, not read it out.
Saying what is restricted and what is free money
This is the part treasurers most often get wrong at the AGM, so it is worth being direct.
Free money is money the committee can decide how to spend, within the constitution. Restricted money has been given or raised for a named purpose, and the committee should spend it on that purpose only. A playground fund is restricted if the parents gave the money for the playground. If the committee later decides to use it for something else, that is a decision with consequences, and the governing document and any regulator guidance for your organisation will say what is allowed.
When you present the split, avoid the word "reserves" unless your constitution uses it. Say "free" and "restricted", and give the amounts. That is the language most members can follow without a glossary.
Three questions members usually ask
Most AGMs produce the same three questions. It helps to have an answer ready before anyone asks.
"Why is the bank balance so high?" Point to the fund split. Often the answer is that the playground money has been saved over two or three years and is not yet spent. Show the restricted amount and the free amount, and the picture becomes clear.
"Where did the uniform money go?" Have the stock purchase and the sale income on one line each, with a note of the date. If you can say "we bought stock in March and sold it across three sessions", you have answered the question without a debate.
"Are we spending more than we raise?" Use last year's column. If the answer is yes, say how much and why, and say what the committee has already agreed to do about it. Do not guess. If you do not know, say you will check and report back.
In a cash book that is kept properly, each of these answers is one filter away. You are not searching through a shoebox. That is what makes the meeting calmer.
Keeping the numbers behind the page
The page is only as good as the records underneath it. Three habits make the difference when a member, an examiner or a successor asks a follow-up question.
- Tick the bank regularly. Match each line on the bank statement to a cash book entry. An unticked line in April is a question in July.
- File the receipts against the entry. A receipt in a drawer does not help. A receipt linked to the sale, the gift or the purchase does.
- Keep the fund labels consistent. If the playground money is called "playground" in one place and "building" in another, the split will not add up.
These are small tasks. Done month by month, they take a few minutes. Left until the AGM, they take an evening, and the evening is not pleasant.
How Vasker produces the page
Vasker is bookkeeping for unpaid UK treasurers of clubs, charities, PTAs, Scout groups and CASCs. It keeps the cash book, the members and the fund labels in one place. The reports include an income and expenditure page with a prior-year comparison, so last year sits beside this year without you copying figures across. The bank balance can be shown by fund.
At the year end, the balance snapshot records the position without rewriting the opening balances from the previous year. That matters if you are comparing one year with another, because the prior-year figures stay as they were reported.
Vasker needs a connection to work. Do not plan to use the cash book on a train with no signal and expect it to update later without thinking about it.
The free plan gives you a starter cash book with one fund. That is enough to try the layout with your own figures before you decide anything else. When you need full reports, members and subscriptions, the Standard plan is £59 a year. You can start free and create your free account from the sign-up page, then move up when the committee needs more.
A note on other organisations
Every organisation is different. A Scout group, a CASC, a church or a small charity will have its own governing document, its own fund rules and its own regulator. The Charity Commission, OSCR and CCNI each publish guidance for the organisations they cover, and HMRC publishes guidance on Gift Aid and other reliefs. This post is general information for volunteer treasurers, not tax or legal advice. Check the rules that apply to your own organisation before you present the figures, and if you are unsure, ask the committee or your regulator.