FINANCIAL CONTROL
Wherever possible use the BACS system for payments. This requires 2 persons to authorise a payment.
Although use of cheques is now rare, if a cheque has to be used it must have 2 signatories. There should be at least three committee members who are nominated signatories.
The Treasurer shall inform the Committee of planned expenditure and obtain minuted approval before making significant one-off BACS payments.
The Treasurer and second signatory can authorise
-
payments of less than £100 against invoices for appropriate purchases.
-
repeat payments for subscriptions, insurance etc
-
regular payments for rehearsal costs
-
transfers between current and deposit accounts
Transaction of more than £100 must be pre-approved by the committee.
The Music Librarian should inform the committee of his/her intention to hire music and give a rough estimate of the cost in his/her report to the committee before the choir embarks on new music.
The Treasurer must keep the Committee informed about changes to regular and repeat payments.
The Treasurer must report to every Committee Meeting on the current position of the Choirs finances.
Cash should be banked regularly and not allowed to accumulate with any Member.
Ticket monies in Sumup or Ticketsource are automatically transferred into the choirs account after the concert within 2 weeks.
The financial software and electronic financial records shall be backed up monthly to USB storage and kept securely by another trustee (committee member).
The Treasurer shall maintain a full audit trail for financial transactions.
The financial accounts shall be audited or examined to the extent required by legislation or if there is no such requirement scrutinized by a person who is independent of the committee and then submitted to the members at the Annual General Meeting.
Copies of invoices, bank statements and any other relevant financial information must be retained for 6 years following the end of the current tax year.
There shall be at least one person other than the Treasurer able to operate the accounts if required by exceptional circumstances.
The Treasurer should issue a petty cash receipt when cash is received from anyone.
Expenses Policy
Committee members can claim reasonable expenses e.g. for printing, postage, gift cards, gifts etc.
Claims to be submitted to the Treasurer with invoices.
Expenses greater than £30 require prior approval from the Treasurer.
​
Reserves Policy
The choir shall keep a reserve of £3,000. If the savings and current account fall lower than this amount the Treasurer must flag this to the committee so that appropriate action can be taken to avoid the choir going into debt.
​
£2,000 is the average cost of a large concert.