Volunteering to be the Treasurer for your organisation can be overwhelming at times. The first step in making it easier is to use modern software like Admin Bandit to streamline all the things you need to get done. Once you have that in place, there are a few common mistakes you’ll want to avoid to stay on top of the job.

#1 Letting records get behind.

It’s tempting to wait until you have several tasks to enter at once rather than doing them one at a time. However, procrastinating until the weekend creates an intimidating pileup. It can make it harder to track things down, creating more work for you.

Don’t put it off.

To avoid getting buried, verify and enter things right away, or at least in the same day. Reconcile with the bank account weekly to catch discrepancies quickly. Keep a calendar of deadlines and forms that need to be filed to be sure you don’t miss any.

#2 Keeping vague records.

As the Treasurer you are responsible for showing where the money went; “project management” isn’t much of an explanation. Each entry should be unique and traceable, including the regular expenses.

Don’t just record the numbers.

Whether you are recording a donation or handing over a cheque, ask questions and be specific, then include those details as a side note. The budget is the map of what the organisation wants to do and how you’ll get there, but the Treasurer is the one who tracks everything to see how well that map is being followed.

 #3 Doing it all yourself.

The Treasurer is the person in charge of all the money, right? This is a bad idea, not only for the organisation but for you. It gives one person complete control and if anything is off that one person gets all the blame!

Have an internal control system.

To protect yourself and your organisation, you need to involve more than one person. It’s ideal to have two witnesses for each account activity and its recording, to protect yourself from suspicion. Spreading the responsibilities around also keeps the power balance. For example, the Treasurer should receive and reconcile bank statements or write the cheques, but not do both. Any cheque over a set amount should require two signatures. Cheques coming in need to be endorsed or stamped right away “For deposit only, ABC Bank, Acct #12345″ with no cash given back. Cheques going out should be given only when provided with an invoice or receipt, and all receipts should be kept.

Treasurers don’t just count money. If a donor wants to know what their money is being spent on, you should be able to answer easily due to your up-to-date record keeping and your knowledge of the budget. Be prepared to back up your information through your internal controls.