Finance Guidance
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Roles of a Treasurer
Contact Information
Managing your Accounts
Paying in Money
Withdrawing Money
Buying Kit from Rhino
Managing your Income
Roles of a Treasurer
The treasurer of a club or society is responsible for the finances. They should be checking the accounts regularly and feeding back to their committees to provide complete transparency with regards to money.
To run accounts effectively, treasurers need to:
- Make sure all committee members know they can’t spend money without asking you; your signature is always needed to authorise payments.
- Involve the rest of your committee to make sure they know how your accounts work and how much money you have (or need).
- Plan ahead for activities and budget well
- Keep a ‘finance file’ either yourself or by checking and keeping statements from the finance office. Within this file, keep records of payment requests and collect them regularly.
- Make sure all money is paid in as soon as possible.
- Make sure your club or society only uses your union bank account. External/personal bank accounts are not allowed!
- Make sure socials never cost you money, they should break even or make a profit.
- Learn to say no! Don’t allow committee members to tempt you into spending money you either do not think should be funded or that will not benefit all members.
Unless you are saving up for some equipment or a big project, you should not be making a profit from your members’ fees.
The Finance counter is located on the 3rd floor of the Students’ Union. You can also visit the Students' Union at the Heath, situated in the IV Lounge, if you are not able to make it to the Finance Office.
Opening times: 10am - 4pm, Monday to Friday.
E-mail: SUFinance@cardiff.ac.uk
Phone: 02920 781441
You can also visit the AU or Societies Teams on the 3rd Floor of the SU.
Managing your Accounts
All Clubs and Societies have five accounts, they are:
- Main account – this is your individual club/society account from which you can make payments and withdraw money. Be sensible on what you use your account for – for example, subsidise activities linked to the core aims of your club or society, rather than spending all your money on socials.
- Equipment budget – this account holds the money that you have been allocated by the union to buy equipment. N.b. your budget can only be used for the equipment it has been granted for. Use your budget first, or you will lose it at the end of each term. The budget is often a grant towards equipment, and so will not always cover the entire cost.
- Activities budget – as above, but for club/society activities
- Charity account – this account holds all charitable fundraising. As all clubs and societies are part of cusu, it automatically has a charitable status and therefore, you cannot make donations to charities or organisations directly from your club/society account.
- Reserve account – linked to club and society tiering. This account is to be used as a contingency fund, or if you are saving up for a long-term project or equipment purchase.
N.B. these accounts are not bank accounts in the traditional sense, they do not have account numbers or sort codes. For accountancy purposes, your club or society is treated as a department within the students’ union, and these accounts are part of that.
You can check the balance for each account on the Student Portal, under the Statements tab. Statements should be uploaded to this page twice a week - contact SUFinance@cardiff.ac.uk if you are not able to see your statements.
Paying in Money
If you wish to deposit money into your account you can collect a paying in form from outside the finance office.
It requires details of the club/society, the person paying in and a breakdown of the money that you are paying. A brief description is needed which will then be included on the statement.
Anyone can pay money into your club/society; it doesn’t have to be the treasurer.
If you are cashing in large amounts of coins (from a charity collection for example) we are able to count the money for you using an automatic coin sorter which can save you a lot of time and effort.
If you have collected money through charitable fundraising you may wish to deposit it into the charity account rather than your specific bank account. It allows you to keep the fundraising amount separate from your disposable finances.
Please make any cheques payable to “cardiff university students’ union” and write the name of your club/society on the back of the cheque slip.
It is also possible to pay money directly into the students’ union bank account, for example if the national governing body of your activity wishes to give you a grant. Please contact the finance office if you wish to do this.
Withdrawing Money
In order to withdraw money from your accounts or budget you need to submit a finance request form at least 24 hours before you wish to collect the money. The form can be found outside the finance office.
- You must attach receipts and proof of purchase equating to the total amount you are claiming for.
- Payments to 3rd parties (e.g. Companies/coaches): obtain a quote or invoice prior to payments to avoid reimbursing club/society members.
- The form requires details of the club/society, and the treasurer’s name and signature. This form can also be signed off by the president if the treasurer is unavailable.
- The detail of the finance claim needs to be specific and clear to avoid problems in the future (e.g. 40 x branded hoodies for members).
- Please specify whom the claim is payable to, tick what type of spend it is, and ensure you specify where you wish the money to be taken from: account(s) or budget.
- Where the form asks for a reference, this is for the payee’s benefit, so that they know what the money is for. When paying an invoice, please use the invoice reference (usually at the top of the page).
- Money can be paid via cash, cheque or bacs bank transfer.
- Cash and cheques can be collected the next working day. Bank transfers take at least 2 working days to reach the destination account so please take this into consideration before making withdrawals.
- You cannot pay anyone in cash for work done for your club/society.
- If you wish the finance office to post your cheque to the recipient then make sure the name and postal address are clearly written on the form, and we will do that free of charge if the address is in the uk or ireland.
- All claims must be authorised by the relevant member of au or societies staff. If the claim isn’t authorised, it won’t be paid. If staff are unavailable, please leave forms on their desks or with finance.
Buying kit from Rhino
Please do not submit Rhino invoices as finance requests, either in paper or via the portal. As we have a business account with them, we need to pay all Rhino invoices through this. Please have Rhino send invoices directly to SUFinance@cardiff.ac.uk.
Managing your Income
Membership income, fees and event charges
At the beginning of the year and throughout, members will owe the club/society money. This will include levies for membership/subscription fees, ball tickets, excursion charges, social event costs, kit or clothing.
Treasurers must ensure that all funds come to them and are banked immediately. It is advisable to collect payments/deposits in advance from members to avoid pulling out at the last minute. Most money is taken at the beginning of the academic year from membership fees and kit/clothing so bear this in mind in september.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is external support either financial or for goods in kind. Sponsors usually look for some form of acknowledgement, whether it is a logo on your society/club kit, a logo on any publicity you produce, or use of their venues. Come to the finance office if you need to raise an invoice for sponsors and submit a sponsorship invoice form. We will then send an invoice to the sponsor and ensure that the money is transferred into your account.
Online - cardiffstudents.com
You can avoid having to handle vast amounts of cash by selling tickets and items through your online club/society section on cardiffstudents.com. When members purchase items through this application the money is transferred directly into your club/society bank account, and provides you with sales reports.
This is a very effective way of ensuring that you have money up front and helps to prevent events not breaking even.
Statements & Balances
Statements of your account are available online through the committees' portal. These are updated every weekday afternoon so it is as accurate as possible. If necessary, you can also request statements from the Finance Office.