finance reportsIt is not unusual to present a finance report that confuses everyone on the committee of management because it is hard to understand or contains too much detail.

Having a finance report that contains a wall of numbers in many columns may not only be misunderstood but you may be sending people to sleep.

Irrespective of your understanding of the numbers or your role on the committee of management, you still have an obligation to know what the figures mean and be accountable when making financial decisions.

One way for the treasurer to address this issue is to prepare a one page summary that provides a high level overview of the financial performance of the organisation.

This one page summary is in effect a snap shot of the figures and may include:

  • The overall performance of the organisation for the month as well as on a year to date basis.
  • The performance of key revenue and expense items against budget.
  • Key Performance Indicators such as the quick asset ratio that is a measure of the solvency of the organisation.
  • A list of expenditure where it was above a certain dollar limit.
  • The balance of cash on hand.
  • If you have several sources of income you may show a breakdown and amounts of the individual components.
  • A listing of any significant finance events such as, for example, a large purchase, grants to be received from a funding agreement or details of a large donation.

These are just some examples but the main point is that it provides a high level overview of the financial performance of the organisation.

You still have the detailed reports which provide specific and more precise details if needed, but the advantage of the one page summary is that it contains all the relevant key financial information.  Importantly, it will be appreciated by other committee of management members and result in better engagement and more informed decision making.