Somerset
Bowls Association
Financial
Procedures – Version 2.1, November 2009
1.
Opening Remarks
These
procedures are intended as a guide to all Officers of The Association as
to how the finances of The Association will be conducted. They will affect
ALL Officers to a greater or lesser extent.
2.
Bank Accounts
The
main Bank Accounts will be a current account held at NatWest Crewkerne,
and a Deposit Account with Anglo Irish Bank.
In
addition, The Benevolent Fund will have its own Current Account held at
NatWest Crewkerne, together with a Deposit Account at Anglo Irish Bank,
while The Benevolent Social Fund will have its own Bank Account which will
be operated by its own Treasurer. The Men’s Tour will also maintain its
own Account at NatWest Crewkerne. The Accounts not operated by The County
Treasurer can be held somewhere convenient to the person operating the
account, and agreed by The Executive. Signatories will be agreed by The
Executive, but it is recommended that for all main accounts there is only
one per account. This should present no risk to The Association if
everything is properly minuted and/or authorised. Minor
accounts not held by The Treasurer can have two signatories if the
operators of the accounts wish. The
Benevolent Fund being a Charity requires two signatories.
The
Patron’s Association will continue to be managed by its own
Secretary/Treasurer, and maintain its own Bank Account.
3.
Affiliation Fees
County
and Bowls England Affiliation Fees will be paid by all Affiliated Clubs
based on reported membership at 30th September each year. These will be
reported on a form sent to clubs each year by The General Secretary. A
sample of the form will be included with these procedures after it has
been designed. Other financial items, such as Bowls England and County
Handbooks, Donations to Benevolent Fund etc. required will also be
included on the form, so that one payment can be made per club to cover
all items.
Payment
will be due by 1st January each year to allow time for money to be sent to
Bowls England by their due date - currently 31st January.
Bowls England handbooks have to be paid for earlier, but this can
be accommodated within normal finances.
County
Affiliation Fees will be agreed each year by The Executive in time to be
included in the budget cycle. They will apply to all members of Affiliated
Clubs at 30th September each year, starting on 30th September 2009.
4.
Matches
A
comprehensive budget will be agreed between The Match Secretary and The
Treasurer each year. In addition to considering how matches are funded
(e.g. By Match Fees), it will consider the cost and use of coaches. A
Match Profile similar to Appendix A will be used in arriving at these
figures.
Overall
Matches are likely to be run at a deficit, but this should be kept to a
minimum and the overall objective is to break even.
A
Match Official will be appointed for each type of Match. Match Fees, sale
of stock items, and any other money collected at matches will be recorded
by The Match Official, and after making any payments due for teas etc.,
the balance will be banked by that official, and reconciliation in the
standardised form, similar to Appendix B, will be sent to The Treasurer,
the Match Official keeping a copy. If appropriate, a float may be made
available to Match Officials when it is likely that they will have to pay
out more than they collect on a regular basis.
5.
Competitions
A
comprehensive budget will be agreed between The Competition Secretary and
The Treasurer each year. It should consider prizes and other costs
associated with running Competitions e.g. Cost of Competition Handbooks,
any appropriate catering, Green Fees (although the policy should be that
we don’t pay them), costs relating to Umpires etc. in arriving at entry
fees. Competitions should be
run on a ‘break even’ basis, and entry fees should be set accordingly.
Competition
(and League) Entry Fees will be paid to The Competition Secretary
at the same time as entries are submitted. The Competition Secretary will
bank this money and submit a summary to The Treasurer in a form similar to
Appendix C.
6.
League(s)
A
comprehensive budget will be agreed between The League Secretary and The
Treasurer each year. It should consider prizes and other costs associated
with running The League(s) e.g. Results cards, appropriate catering, Green
Fees (although the policy should be that we don’t pay them), etc. in
arriving at entry fees. The
League(s) and should be run on
a ‘break even’ basis, and entry and joining fees should be set
accordingly.
7.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship
whilst very welcome tends to come and go. Each offer of sponsorship will
be considered as a separate item by The Executive.
8.
Handbooks and Yearbooks
It
is likely that we will have an Administrative Yearbook and a Competitions
and League Handbook.
The
cost of The Competitions and League Handbook will be born by these
functions, split in an appropriate way. The Cost of Yearbooks and any
Handbooks associated with them for sale purposes will be borne as a cost
of Central Admin..
Advertising
revenue will help to offset eh cost of these books, and will be treated a
Central Admin. Income.
9.
Budgets
A
full and comprehensive budget will be prepared each year by The Treasurer
who will take input from Executive Members as considered necessary.
Although certain aspects of the budget need to be agreed in time for
Affiliation Fees and Competition and League Entry Fees to be set, some
figures can’t be finalised until around December. This allows time for
all match venues to be agreed - some Counties don’t confirm venues until
around December, and this in turn can be used to finalise coaches, and
thus confirm Match Fees, Coach Fares for guests etc. The final budget will
be agreed at the February meeting.
10.
Expenses
Job
Descriptions for all members of The Executive state that a fixed amount
will be paid to each member. This is primarily to cover travelling
expenses. These fixed amounts will be awarded to the executive member and
will cover all assistants or others under that executive member i.e.
the total amount will be split. These total figures and any split will be
agreed by The Executive committee and minuted for audit purposes.
In
addition individuals may claim for other expenses including, but not
exclusively, postage, stationery and telephone. Any such claims should be
authorised (signed off) by the appropriate Executive member, or in the
case of an executive member by The General Secretary. If The General
Secretary makes a claim it should be authorised by The Chairman, and any
claim by The Chairman should be authorised by The Treasurer.
Any expenses of a non-personal nature should be approved in the
same way as personal expenses.
11.
Stock Items
All
items bought and sold as stock items, e.g. Badges, glasses, blazer cloth,
will be recorded as such, and a return will be made by anyone holding
stock at the end of the financial year. This is to be valued at the lower
of cost or market value, (i.e. what we could sell the items for in the
open market). Generally these items will be authorised by The Executive
Committee, but where this doesn’t happen, the item should be authorised
in the same way as Expenses.
12.
Recording
To
facilitate all of the above, proper records, both for budgets and
transactions, will be kept in a form convenient to The Treasurer. However
these records should be in a ‘departmental’ format so that budgets can
be developed and accounts presented in a ‘by function’ format.
13.
Accounts Examiner
An
Accounts Examiner will be appointed each year at The AGM.
Appendix A
Appendix
B
Appendix
C