Finance Guidance
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Roles and Responsibilities
Contact Information
Managing Your Accounts
Paying In Money
Withdrawing Money
Rhino Kit
Managing Your Income
Roles and Responsibilities
Clubs and societies are responsible for looking after their own finances and, as a president/treasurer, this falls directly within your job description.
To manage accounts effectively, you should:
- 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’ with statements and records of deposits etc.
- Ensure all money is paid in as soon as possible.
- Make sure your club or society only uses your Union accounts. 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 Office 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:
- 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.
- Reserve account – this is to be used as a contingency fund, or if you are saving up for a long-term project or equipment purchase. It is linked to the club and society tiering structures.
- Equipment budget – this account holds the money that you have been allocated by the union to buy equipment. This 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 for any external chairties. You must only use this account for this.
Note: these accounts are not bank accounts in the traditional sense and they do not have account numbers or sort codes.
Statements of your accounts are available on the committees' portal. These are updated every weekday to be as accurate as possible - 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 do so by filling in a "Paying In Form" at 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, we are able to count these 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 should deposit this into the charity 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 spend any money from your accounts, you need to submit a finance request. This can be done using the committees' portal or the paper form available from 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/instructors) should be made directly to them and they must provide an invoice.
- Only presidents and treasurers can submit finance requests and you cannot authorise a claim to yourself.
- 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).
- You should always specify whom the claim is payable to and which account you wish to spend the money from.
- The payment reference 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 bank transfer, cash or cheque.
- You should allow three to five working days from the point of approval for bank transfers to reach the destination account. Cash and cheques can typically be collected one working day after approval.
- You cannot pay anyone in cash for work done for your club/society.
- Cheques can be posted free of charge to any UK or Ireland address.
- 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. Please discuss any pending requests with your coordinator.
Rhino Kit
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. If your sponsor requires an invoice, you can request one by submitting an "Invoice Request 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 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.