A Day in the Life of…… NTT&MBC Treasurer.
This is the first in a series of short articles outlining the various roles undertaken by the club’s committee members. The aim is to describe what the jobs entail in the hope that removing some of the “mystique” will encourage others to put their names forward and volunteer for committee roles in the future. Our first contributor is Sue Dickinson, who held the Treasurer’s role for 3 years:
I took over as Treasurer at short notice simply because there were no other volunteers at the time, and I thought it would look good on my C.V.! It seemed daunting at first, but having a reasonably good head for figures so I soon got to grips with it. The previous Treasurer used a big red book (ledger) to record all transactions, but I decided to use a simple Excel spreadsheet instead. There is actually not much work to do for most of the time – the occasional expenses form comes in from committee members, or an invoice needs paying. These are most often associated with newsletter and postage costs, hostess fees when members provide an evening meeting venue, or with purchases for the events we hold throughout the year such as the Christmas party. There are also a few items which need paying annually, such as our club TAMBA subscription, Public Liability Insurance and the domain name payment for our website.
Committee members usually purchase all items themselves, then give or send me an expenses form with relevant receipts attached. I then check and record the details and write a cheque. As all club cheques need two signatures, this then goes to the Chair or Vice Chair for 2 nd signature. All paperwork (e.g. forms, receipts and invoices) must be stored in a file in date order, ready for our annual audit. This is performed by an MAAT accredited auditor who has kindly given her services free for 4 consecutive years.
The paying-in of cheques happens only a few times a year, when a batch of cheques is passed on by the Membership Secretary or the event organisers, or a very welcome grant or donation comes in. Again all details are recorded in the spreadsheet and the cheque(s) taken to the bank.
The hardest part of the job is checking, summarising and preparing the accounts for annual audit in October. There is always some minor discrepancy and unfortunately having £10 too much in the bank is just as big a problem as having £10 go astray. These problems are always sorted out eventually but can be very frustrating for a few hours!
I decided not to volunteer for Treasurer again this year, partly because I also run the club’s website which is long overdue for a major revision, and I will need to spend some time on this. Fortunately, Rachel Marshall volunteered to take on the role of Treasurer just before the AGM and I wish her every success.
Sue Dickinson