The treasurer handover checklist: what to pass on, and when

Close the year cleanly first

Hand over a finished year, not a half-finished one. Reconcile the bank to the last day, produce the receipts and payments for the year, and send them to the examiner if one is needed. Then list what is still open: bills received but not paid, money promised but not received, grant reports due, and any Gift Aid not yet claimed — a charity has 4 years from the end of the financial period a gift arrived in.

Books that belong to the organisation

The club’s or charity’s money should never have been in the treasurer’s own records. Its own bank account and its own books — kept in the organisation’s name, not on a personal laptop or in a personal finance app mixed with your own spending — are what an independent examiner expects to see, and they turn a handover into passing on access rather than rebuilding a year.

If the books have lived on your computer, move them somewhere the organisation owns before you go, and keep the old files with the year’s records.

The bank mandate and the signatories

Add the new treasurer as a signatory before the old one comes off, so there is never a week when nobody can pay a bill. Banks usually want the minutes of the meeting that appointed them, so take a copy. If the constitution asks for two signatures on payments, make sure two current officers can still sign.

Online banking logins belong to people, not roles: the new treasurer should get their own, rather than the old treasurer’s password.

Logins, suppliers and dates

List every service the treasurer logs in to and pass each one on properly: online banking, any card reader or payment link, the bank feed or statement uploads behind the books, HMRC’s Charities Online for Gift Aid, the My Charity Commission Account used for the annual return, and the ACNC portal in Australia.

List what comes round each year: insurance renewal, league or affiliation fees, hall hire, subscriptions to software, the annual return deadline (10 months after the year end in England and Wales), and the next Gift Aid claim.

Funds, grants and promises

For each restricted fund, write down what it is for, who gave it, what is left and what the terms say about reporting or underspends — the grant letter goes with it. For each designated fund, note the meeting that set it aside. The new treasurer inherits these promises along with the money.

Gift Aid declarations go with the records too: HMRC expects a charity to keep them for 6 years from the end of the accounting period they relate to, and one that covers future gifts for as long as the donor keeps giving, then 6 years from the final donation.

Records, and how long to keep them

In England and Wales the trustees of a charity that is not a company must keep its accounting records for at least 6 years from the end of the financial year they were made in. Bank statements, invoices, receipts, grant letters, minutes that approved spending, the examiner’s report and the approved accounts are the core. Hand them over in one place, with an index, rather than in three carrier bags.

The checklist

Year closed, bank reconciled to the last day, receipts and payments produced. Open items listed: unpaid bills, money due, grant reports, unclaimed Gift Aid. Books in the organisation’s own name and its own bank account. New treasurer added to the bank mandate before the old one comes off. Every login passed on as a new login, not a shared password. Restricted and designated funds written up with their terms. Declarations and records handed over with an index. Regulator told about a change of trustees as it asks.