There is no doubt that bookkeeping is a tedious and mundane task. And if you are a non-finance person, a CEO cum founder of a start up charity with no staff, it can be overwhelming too. It is often at the bottom of the ‘To Do’ list because of constant fundraising priorities, staff shortages and deadlines for meeting project targets. But a trained charity bookkeeper can take this burden away from you so you can focus on delivering your charity’s objects.
But accurate bookkeeping is vital for the well-being and survival of all charities. This is because, error-free bookkeeping is the skeleton from which unambiguous and meaningful financial reports are prepared. It is all the more important for a start up charity in its first couple of years.
Like exercise?
I know, you may be finding it difficult to believe us. But let us help you with an analogy. Think of bookkeeping as physical exercise. Both are boring. And you will, more often than not, try to do anything else a bit more interesting just to avoid them. But as you know, exercise is good for your body and mind. Similarly, precise bookkeeping is good for your charity.
Undesirable consequences
If your bookkeeping is faulty, so are your management accounts and fund reports prepared from this data. Your annual accounts (also submitted to Charity Commission) prepared from your management accounts and monitoring reports prepared from your fund reports are therefore essentially incorrect. Finally, erroneous bookkeeping can therefore have devastating implications on a start up charities whose Board of Trustees rely on management accounts for decision making. Read here what our clients have to say about us and how we helped others with undesirable consequences.
Why demand anything less than a specialist charity bookkeeper?
This is why you need a good charity bookkeeper who is thorough and understands how charities finances work. With our in depth knowledge and vast experience we can be that charity bookkeeper you can rely on. With attention to detail we can produce clear and error-free financial reports.
Because of our client centric approach we can be flexible in the services we provide. With the help of cloud based bookkeeping software we can be as much or as little involved in your day to day bookkeeping as you would like. You can ask us for an ‘on site’ bookkeeping service. Alternatively, you may prefer to outsource your bookkeeping completely which we will manage remotely. Most charities prefer the second option due to it being cheaper.
Bookkeeping for start-up Charities
Getting a charity registered is a fantastic achievement! The whole process can be so long and stressful that you almost want to give up. Believe me, I know.
But you did not. And so, your journey begins!
So, let us give you a helping hand! At Charity Accountant we will run your finance function smoothly and efficiently, so you can do things that really matter to you.
With an aim to help start-up charities specifically with our expert services, we have designed packages that will meet your needs without having to spend a fortune. Please select one of our Charity Starter packages and give us a call on 01732 807 482 to get a 50% discount on your 1st-year fees. If your requirements are different to those listed in the packages give us a call and we can give you a fixed fee quote for services catering to your. Charity bookkeeping fees start from £15pm.
Want more than just bookkeeping?
We have more than just bookkeeping to offer to mature as well as start up charities. After a detailed discussion with you about your charity’s finances, requirements and your bookkeeping process we can recommend any changes where necessary. This will result in time and cost saving in bookkeeping along with making the finance function more efficiently. Most common recommendations are-
- Move over to a more user friendly and flexible bookkeeping software if necessary. Ideally QuickBooks Online, or Xero which are a monthly subscription-based software in the Cloud.
- Set up custom Chart of Accounts, project income and expenditure tracking categories and grant/funder codes within these. Each charity is different and so these have to be tailor made to suit each charity.
- Staff to be trained in QuickBooks with a basic working knowledge, such as raise invoices, manage purchase and sales ledgers.
- Review of financial procedures to make the system robust and efficient.
- Regular review of data input on QuickBooks to ensure banks are reconciled, errors are identified and corrected on a timely basis. Regular preparation of management accounts for Trustees for decision making and governance
If you would like a no obligation fixed fee quote please complete the details below and give us a brief idea about your charity (for example- turnover, charitable activities) and your requirements. Click here for a detailed list of services offered.
Comments or questions are welcome.
