contract registerFor the volunteer treasurer a simple but effective tool to have is a contracts register.  The purpose of the contracts register is to summarise details of the main contracts that relate to your organisation.  Most organisations will have several contracts and even a small organisation is likely to have contracts that need to be monitored.

The other benefit of the contracts register is that it makes it easier to review on a regular basis without the need to go through each contract that may have several pages.  Furthermore, a regular agenda item for a finance subcommittee meeting could be to review the contracts register and decide what needs to be done before they expire.

Examples of contracts that you may have can include:

  • Maintenance contracts for capital equipment such as heaters and air conditioners.
  • Maintenance contracts for office equipment such as photocopiers, computers, servers and telephone systems.
  • Lease contracts for motor vehicles, office equipment or other items.
  • Internet, telephone and mobile phone contracts.
  • Insurance coverage.
  • Safety requirements such as the regular checking of fire extinguishers, power points, smoke detectors, security alarms systems or any other electrical equipment.
  • Details for any external contractors such as cleaning and maintenance staff.

When preparing your contracts register you should record the following information:

  • Description of the contract and what it is for.
  • Name of the supplier.
  • Date the contract was entered into and the date the contract expires.
  • The value of the contract.
  • Who is responsible for managing the contract.
  • Location of the actual original copy of the full contract.

This is a guide as you could include more information depending on the type of contract.  For example, the contract may have specific targets or key performance indicators that need to be met, there may be conditions attached to the contract that need to be monitored during the contract or if you plan to not renew a contract there can be a period of notice that you must provide to the supplier.

The important issue is that as a volunteer treasurer, the contracts register is an effective and easy way to monitor and manage your contracts.  In addition, it is not too hard to prepare and if you currently don’t have one then it is an excellent way to check and review that you have appropriate contracts in place and if not then take action.