The school disco finished at nine. At half past ten the biscuit tin comes back to you with a rubber band round it, a carrier bag of coins and a pile of notes that somebody has folded in four. Someone asks how much the disco made. You are not sure whether the £40 in the tin was the float, the takings, or both, and the raffle money went into the same tin at some point during the evening.
This is the most common muddle in a parent teacher association (PTA) cash book, and it is easy to fix. It needs no new system, only a few habits applied on the night and the next morning.
Count the cash with two people
Before anyone leaves, count the cash with two people present. Two adults, two signatures. Write the total on a sheet of paper and have both people sign it. Do not wait until Monday, because by then nobody remembers which tin was which.
The count sheet is your evidence. It should show the date, the event name, the total counted and the names of the two people who counted it. If the bar and the raffle used separate tins, count each one separately and record them on separate lines.
The cash book needs a connection to the internet, so you cannot rely on typing the figures in at the hall. Write the count on paper at the event and enter it afterwards, once you are home and have signal. Keep the paper with the paying-in slip until the entry is made.
Bank it promptly
Take the cash to the bank as soon as you can, ideally the next working day. The reason is simple. A paying-in slip, a bank statement line and a count sheet should all tell the same story. When the cash sits in a drawer for a fortnight, the cash book drifts away from the bank, and at the next reconciliation you spend an evening looking for a difference of £15.
When you enter the paying-in amount in the cash book, tag it to the event. That way the bank line and the event record point at each other.
Keep the float apart from the takings
The float is the change you put into the tin before the event starts so that people can give change for a £5 note. It is not income. If you record the float as takings, the event looks as though it raised more than it did, and the committee will ask why the bar made so much.
Record three figures for every event:
- Float out: the amount you took from the account or from the treasurer's cash box and put into the tins at the start.
- Float back: the amount you took out again at the end, counted with the takings.
- Net takings: the cash taken during the event, which is the total counted minus the float.
If the float was £60 and the total counted at the end was £310, the net takings are £250. Write all three figures on the count sheet. The committee should be able to see that the £250 is what came in, not the £310 in the tin.
If the float came from the main account, the cash book should show the withdrawal and the return as separate lines tagged to the event. Once the float is back in the box, it is no longer a cost, so it should not appear on the event's costs line.
Record event costs against the same event
The most useful question a committee can ask after a summer fair is what it actually raised. You answer that by tagging costs to the same event as the takings. Bouncy castle hire, raffle prizes, cups, the urn gas bottle and the printing for the posters all go against the fair, not into a general "expenses" line.
Then the event has a simple picture: money in from the bar, the raffle and the tombola; money out for the castle, the prizes and the printing; and net result at the bottom. If the fair cleared £800 after costs, you can say so with confidence. If the tombola cost more than it took, you can see that too, and decide next year whether it is worth running.
Keep receipts for every cost. Note on the receipt which event it was for, and file it with the count sheet. Without receipts, the cost line is only a figure someone remembers.
Donation buckets and Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)
Many PTAs and Scout groups place a donation bucket or collecting tin at the door. If your organisation is a registered charity, or a qualifying body that can use Gift Aid, you may be able to use the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS). In general terms, GASDS can add a top-up to qualifying small cash donations where the donor has not given an individual declaration.
This is general information, not tax advice. GASDS is subject to HMRC rules and caps, and tin or bucket cash does not always qualify. Check current HMRC guidance before you claim anything, and do not assume that every pound in a bucket is eligible. The scheme does not replace individual declarations for named regular donors.
For the cash book, keep bucket cash on its own line, tagged to the event, with the count sheet attached. That makes it straightforward to see what was collected and to answer questions later if HMRC asks about the records.
The one-page note for the committee
After each event, write one page for the committee. It does not need to be long. Include:
- Takings, broken down by source (bar, raffle, bucket, tickets)
- Costs, broken down by the main items
- Net result, after the float has been returned and costs deducted
- Where the money went: the account it was banked into, and any payments still to be made
Attach the count sheet and the receipts list. At the next meeting, the committee can approve the figures in five minutes, and you have a record that makes sense to whoever takes over the role next year.
If you want to try this approach with your next event, you can create your free account and record the event in the cash book. The free plan includes a starter cash book with one fund, which is enough to see how event float, takings and costs look on screen. The Standard plan is £59 a year and adds full books and reports for the committee. There is no sales call and no setup fee, and you can create the organisation yourself in a few minutes.
This article is general information for volunteer treasurers. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice. Check current HMRC guidance and your own governing documents, and keep your records for at least six years.