Seasonal finances are very difficult to manage.

Sporting teams usually have plenty of supporters ready and willing to buy memberships or purchase club products. You’d think it would be easy to manage their finances but you would be wrong, as an article in Charter Magazine recently pointed out.

Cam Vale CA, CEO of Hockey Australia, is quoted as saying “We manage break-even businesses that are generally more profitable based on on-field success. We manage inconsistent cash flows against the straight line expenditure model that other mainstream businesses face. We manage businesses in the most competitive of revenue areas such as sponsorship and membership revenue that often fall into the category of discretionary spend. And we manage businesses that don’t have huge resources in staffing or in capital reserves or debt to fall back onto to invest or in hard times.”

So sporting clubs must operate with inconsistent cash flow, limited financial and staffing resources, and fluctuating sponsorships.  If yours is a small club your cash numbers might also be small, but undoubtedly you experience the same pressures.

Most of your cash will come in at the beginning of your season and dry up towards the end. Once the excitement of the Grand Final is over, the finances go into hibernation mode but your expenses may not. Insurance, repairs, restocking of equipment, league fees – it all adds up.  Seasonal finances – on and off again in a continuous cycle.

As volunteer treasurer you have the responsibility, along with your committee, of managing the cash flow so that your outgoings are covered during the off-season. If you have prepared your cash flow projections for the next year or next quarter you should be able to see where the cash flow crises might occur.

If you can see that you are indeed likely have a crisis on your hands, there are a couple of things you can do to head it off.

Of course, if you are in the financial position to do so, it’s worth siphoning off some of your funds as they arrive and putting them aside to cover you during your critical periods.

It’s a bumpy ride when you manage the finances of a sporting club and good systems such as Admin Bandit club software are essential to help you track and monitor your progress. Talk to us today about how we can help smooth the financial path for your sporting club.