Finance policy
What you need to do to manage accounts and funds
Published: 6 November 2024
Version: 2
Policy aims and purpose
This policy outlines responsibilities for all volunteers in Girlguiding who manage funds and keep financial accounts. This policy must be followed by all who give their time freely to Girlguiding as volunteers.
Definitions
- Assets: any valuable equipment, land, buildings or investments, as well as the cash or savings balance in the bank.
- ATM: Automated Teller Machine, often known as a cash point or cash machine.
- Bank account: we use the term bank account throughout this policy, and it includes building society accounts.
- Credit card: unlike a debit card, a credit card doesn’t let you spend money directly from your bank account, but rather money that’s lent to you by your bank. You then pay back the money in full or in instalments. Credit cards often have fees associated with them, such as interest, and other charges. Credit cards issued by Girlguiding’s HQ bank account are only allowed if you’re a volunteer at HQ, country or region level. The cards can only be used for HQ costs and not for unit or other level costs.
- Debit card: a card that lets a named volunteer spend money directly from the unit or level’s bank account. Usually you need a PIN code to make a payment or withdraw cash, but many now offer contactless payments with an upper limit. You can ask your bank if they can set a lower contactless limit.
- Dual authorisation of payments: before any payments are made, they should be agreed by 2 members of the unit’s leadership team. This is evidenced by cheque payments where 2 signatures are needed, online banking which requires 2 people to authorise the payment, or when 2 signatories agree through email, WhatsApp or other messaging services that a payment can be made.
- End of year review: an independent review of a unit or level’s annual accounts. The type of review needed will vary depending on the unit or level’s charitable status and the amount of money that goes through the account in that year.
- Financial year: the 12-month period used to prepare the accounts, such as 1 January to 31 December or 1 April to 31 March.
- Girlguiding: the Guide Association and all local units, districts, divisions, counties, countries and regions.
- Independent examination of accounts: in some cases, an end of year review isn’t enough, and there will need to be an independent examination of accounts. This usually takes place when there’s more than £25,000 in the unit’s bank accounts, or when land or buildings are owned. If you're not sure if you need an independent examination of accounts, speak to your local commissioner.
- Liabilities: something the unit owes to someone, usually a sum of money. It’s based on an invoice received or an agreement made to supply the goods or services but where the payment hasn’t been made by the unit at year end. If a cheque has been written but not cashed at year end this will reduce the bank balance shown in the unit accounts and will be shown as an uncleared item in the bank reconciliation.
- Payments in advance of a purchase: at least 2 signatories must agree that a given payment is to be made before the purchase is made.
- Payments at the point of purchase: only 1 signatory needs to make a payment at the point of purchase, for example, using a debit card or cash at a shop. However, this payment must have been agreed by 2 signatories beforehand.
- Prepaid card: a card where money can be loaded on (much like a pay-as-you-go mobile phone) and used like a debit card. Unlike a debit card, you don’t need a bank account to set up this type of card.
- Reserves: the Charity Commission states that ‘reserves are part of a charity’s unrestricted funds that are freely available to spend on any of the charities purposes’. A reserve of money set aside to protect your unit or level against drops in income, (a ‘rainy day pot’) is always needed. You may also choose to create an additional reserve to allow your unit or level to make the most of a new opportunity, like going on an international trip.
- Relevant charity regulator: the Charity Commission in England and Wales, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in Scotland.
- Signatories: these are the people allowed to operate a bank account. They may need to contact the bank and fill out a form called the account mandate to be set up on the account by the bank.
- Trustees: means ‘charity trustees’, which are defined in law as ‘the persons having the general control and management of the administration of a charity’. At the unit level members of the unit leadership team are typically the trustees, and it could also include administrators who act as treasurers or others who clearly have some ‘general control’. For other levels it’s usually the voting members of a county executive committee and the members of a division or district committee who are charity trustees. Charity trustees have specific responsibilities under charity law.
- Unit leadership team: the adult volunteers who run the unit. This must include at least 1 leader or leader-in-training, and could also include assistant leaders and unit helpers.
- Volunteer expenses: payments that you’ve personally made which relate to your Girlguiding role.
Policy statement
What rules do I need to follow?
The majority of Girlguiding units and levels including countries, regions and counties operate as individual charities. Charity regulations vary, so everyone must follow their relevant charity regulator’s guidance about looking after finances.
While parts of Girlguiding operate as registered charities, only some will need to actually register with their relevant charity regulator. Check your relevant charity regulator’s website for more information, as guidance in Scotland and Northern Ireland is different to England and Wales.
See our guidance on charitable status, or the relevant charity regulator’s website for your country.
If you guide outside the UK, ask for advice from your country or region office about how to apply this policy while also complying with local regulations.
What are my financial responsibilities?
Unit leaders, assistant leaders, and leaders in training are typically charity trustees. Trustees have a legal duty to look after their charity’s money, accounts, and other assets (for example, any valuable equipment, land, buildings, or investments). This includes:
- Keeping funds safe.
- Having a clear process for managing income and expenditure that your unit or level’s leadership team shares and understands.
- Setting a budget and following it.
- Dealing promptly with and keeping records of money coming in.
- Keeping records of any payments you make.
- Making sure accurate accounting records are produced, kept, and shared with the level above.
- Dealing with any financial challenges quickly.
- Reviewing accounts on a termly basis, and keeping the accounts up to date.
If you’re acting as a charity trustee, and are subject to any of the following, you must contact your commissioner immediately after the order is issued:
- Bankrupt (undischarged).
- Bankruptcy: Restriction Order (BRO), also known as a Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking (BRU) or an Interim Order.
- Sequestration Order (undischarged).
- Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA).
- Debt Recovery Order, also known as a Debt Relief Restriction Order (DRRO).
Unit leaders, assistant leaders and leaders in training can delegate the day-to-day handling of money and keeping the accounts up to date to another person with the right experience and knowledge. But you’ll still be responsible for making sure the work is accurate and complete.
Cash
Cash held must be kept to a minimum and should only be withdrawn from the bank as and when needed.
When cash is received, it must be included in the cash section of the unit accounts records. It must show who the money is from and the purpose of the payment, for example, weekly subscriptions.
All cash payments must be recorded in the cash records. The supporting invoices, or receipts, must also be provided alongside this record.
Excess cash not needed for unit activities should be banked.
Bank accounts
All units and levels must have a bank account.
You can open an account with any bank or branch, but they must be a recognised and well-known brand. They must also be part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and a registered banking organisation. The FSCS will protect funds of up to £85,000 in the unlikely event of a bank or building society failing.
A bank account should be in the name of the unit or level, as it appears on GO. If the name of the bank account and the unit or level is different, and this causes issues, the commissioner can insist the bank account name is changed to match the name of the unit or level, as it appears on GO. A bank account must never be in the name of an individual.
Each unit should have its own bank account. Units with the same leadership team can share a bank account, though this is discouraged as it may limit the Gift Aid you can claim. If sharing a bank account between any units causes any issues, the commissioner can insist that separate accounts are opened. If using a shared bank account, the transaction for each unit must be clearly identified so that the accounts for each unit can be kept separately and be ready for the annual review.
Units with the same leadership team can share an account for a specific purpose, like a trip or activity that both units are fundraising for.
A joint unit should use 1 bank account for the unit. For example, if a Rainbow unit and a Brownie unit merge together, they should use the same bank account as they're now 1 unit. Likewise, if a Guide unit combines with a Scout group, they should share the same account. If units are merging, then they temporarily can keep using separate accounts. However, if this causes any issues, a commissioner can insist they use 1 bank account.
When units merge, the funds of each previous unit now become the funds of the new (joint) unit.
When a unit closes, the district or division should hold onto any money as a separate amount for 1 year in case the unit reopens. After that, the funds should be dispersed into the district or division accounts, or dealt with in line with what’s in the governing constitution or trust deed. This also applies to any equipment, property or investments.
Units can have multiple bank accounts, but these should only be used for a specific purpose. Like as a back-up in the event of an emergency OR bank account closure, or for saving for an overseas trip. The accounts must all be in the name of the unit.
Units cannot use a district or division bank account, except temporarily, in emergency situations.
Bank accounts shouldn’t have an arranged overdraft. You must never spend more money than you can afford.
If you need to close a bank account, you must follow the finance procedure bank accounts page.
Signatories
Each bank account must have at least 3 named signatories (people needed to authorise payments). A bank account can have more than 3 signatories. Of these minimum 3, ideally 2 signatories should be from within the unit but each bank account must have at least 1 signatory from within the unit. The third signatory should come from elsewhere – for example, your local guiding district or division.
Signatories shouldn't be related to, or in a relationship with, any of the other signatories. However, if this isn’t practical, for example, in a family-run unit, 1 of the 3 signatories must not be related to, or in a relationship with, the other 2 signatories. Signatories who are related to each other, or in a relationship together must never approve the other’s spending.
It’s essential to inform the bank as soon as possible if any of the information held by the bank about a signatory's personal details (such as address) change.
If a signatory doesn’t already have a role in Girlguiding, you should record them on GO as a unit administrator. They must also have a criminal record disclosure check (DBS in England and Wales, AccessNI in Northern Ireland, PVG in Scotland), or the equivalent international check for British Overseas Territories. They need to have done Girlguiding’s safer guiding training too.
Signatories must share the bank account details with all members who need them, including the leadership team and your local commissioner. Make sure to include:
- Your bank’s name.
- Your account number and sort code.
- The names of your bank mandate signatories.
- Who has a debit card.
- Whether you use online banking.
- Where you keep your bank’s associated documents such as cheque books.
Cheque books, debit cards, and prepaid cards must be kept secure to prevent unauthorised usage. Usernames and passwords for online banking must not be shared.
Signatories must not use a shared email address for banking communications.
Signatories cannot carry out the independent end of year financial review of the accounts they’re a signatory for. Please see our end of year review of accounts procedure for more information, and our managing information policy for more details on keeping information secure.
If a signatory expects that they’ll leave the unit, or otherwise doesn’t want to be a signatory, they should be removed as a signatory whilst they’re still a volunteer. This is to make sure they’re not a signatory when they’re no longer a volunteer with the unit associated with the bank account. If a signatory can no longer be a signatory, they should let the unit or level leadership team know as soon as possible. They should cooperate with the leadership team and the bank to help make sure this change is made. They should handover any relevant responsibilities they might have, for example, preparing accounts.
If a signatory is subject to a financial restriction, they must be removed as a signatory as soon as possible. They can be reinstated as a signatory when the financial restriction has expired.
There may be exceptional circumstances when the commissioner will need to use their authority to nominate signatories to a bank account.
Making payments
Only 2 out of the 3 signatories need to agree and authorise all payments in advance of a purchase. But only 1 signatory needs to make a payment at the point of purchase. You must never make a payment without another signatory approving it in advance. Signatories who are related to each other must not both authorise a payment. A signatory cannot approve a payment to themselves.
You can use online banking and debit cards. But any transactions you make should follow your budget, and you must keep accurate records of your accounts (see below). Debit cards must only be used by the person whose name appears on the card and details must never be shared.
Credit cards are only allowed if you’re a volunteer at HQ, country or region level.
You must never sign blank cheques.
Cash purchases must have an accompanying receipt.
Dealing with money coming in promptly
You must:
- Bank any money you receive as soon as possible.
- Keep any cash in a safe place, under lock and key. Your meeting place or household insurance policy probably won’t cover loss or theft of funds, and Girlguiding HQ’s insurance doesn’t cover assets belonging to units or other levels. If you regularly need to hold money securely, you should consider taking out additional insurance cover either by adding it to your own household policy or taking out a separate insurance cover for it.
- Keep Girlguiding funds completely separate from your own money. You must never ask a parent, another volunteer, or anyone else to pay money used for guiding purposes into your personal account. You must never make payments for guiding purposes from your personal account to parents, volunteers or anyone else.
- Minimise the amount of personal money you use to cover guiding expenses.
Claiming expenses
Our volunteers should never be out of pocket. If you have costs related to your volunteer role at Girlguiding, you must always claim them back.
If you pay for something for guiding from your own money, this must have been agreed in principle by another signatory beforehand. You must claim it back using an expense form (Word, automatic download, 50KB) alongside receipts, travel tickets, invoices or bills. All expenses must be approved by 2 members of the unit who aren’t related to each other. The signatories also need check that all receipts are included, and the claim is correctly added up. This will help when completing your end of year accounts.
The person claiming the expenses cannot authorise their own reimbursement.
Before making a purchase which will later be claimed as an expense, you must make sure that this can be covered by the funds held by the unit or level.
Find out more about claiming expenses.
Setting and following a budget
It’s important to plan ahead to make sure you have enough funds to cover all your costs. Never spend more money than you can afford, or borrow from or lend money to your guiding accounts. This could have serious implications for both your guiding and personal finances.
Your costs could include (but aren’t limited to) your annual subscriptions to other levels, venue costs, activity costs and buying equipment. You should include any costs your unit or level covers for volunteers, for example annual subscriptions, training and uniforms. Units and levels should decide whether to cover these costs and review their decision each year. Whatever decision is made, it should be recorded in the budget when it’s agreed each year.
Units and levels can raise money through weekly, monthly, or termly subs, and by fundraising to cover unit or level expenses. You can also use money you have in savings or investments.
If you don’t have money set aside to cover drops in income, you should budget to create a reserve of funds, or rainy day pot. This will make sure you have enough money to pay for costs, especially fixed costs like rent, if your member numbers suddenly drop or there are delays in parents or carers paying subs.
You may wish to create an additional reserve to allow your unit or level to take advantage of a new opportunity, like going on an international trip.
Keeping accurate accounts
You must record all money paid to you and money you spend. You can use a method that suits you, whether that’s an accounts book or the accounts pack. If you need to submit your accounts to your relevant charity regulator, you should check their accounting requirements to ensure your records will cover all the requirements. All units and levels should check with their local commissioner what their local accounting period is, as it may vary in different areas.
You must keep your records secure in line with our managing information policy and procedure. It’s best practice to make sure your accounting records are up to date by reviewing them at least once a term.
Unit leaders must review the accounts themselves termly if they’re delegated to a unit administrator who manages finances (unless you’ve made an alternative arrangement within your unit leadership team). Unit leaders must also make sure that anyone managing unit accounts who isn’t a member of the unit leadership team is registered on GO as a unit administrator, and has a criminal record disclosure check from the relevant disclosure body.
Accounts for all levels should be reviewed regularly, and at least once a year, at district, division or county executive or committee meetings.
You need to keep all paperwork connected with managing your accounts for 7 years following the end of each financial year.
End of year review
At the end of the financial year the trustees must finalise their accounts. This means that at a minimum you must:
- Produce an annual accounts statement.
- Produce a statement of assets and liabilities.
- Have your accounts independently reviewed.
All levels must send all this information to their local commissioner no more than 3 months after the end of their financial year. If this isn’t possible you must contact your local commissioner and discuss it with them. If the commissioner has approved payments or been involved in the documentation or accounts preparation in any way for the unit, then the unit’s accounts should be reviewed by the commissioner for the next level up.
Units and other levels in Scotland and Northern Ireland must check with their country/region offices to find out if they need to submit a more detailed annual accounts statement. You can find more about this from Girlguiding Scotland and Girlguiding Ulster.
For units and other levels in England and Wales your commissioner can advise if you need to have your accounts independently examined. This is different from a year-end review and will depend on the amount of money held in your account, or any property or assets held.
Commissioners are responsible for making sure units in their area have their accounts reviewed once a year. The review must be carried out independently by someone outside of the unit. Commissioners can delegate the task of making sure units are keeping their accounts up to date and providing regular support to the leaders. However, commissioners must escalate any concerns they may have. For further information on commissioner responsibilities, see our responsibilities for unit accounts guidance (PDF).
If you’re guiding outside the UK, you must ask the relevant charity regulator or your country/region chief commissioner if you need to submit more detailed information.
Dealing with financial challenges quickly
It’s crucial to act quickly if you think your unit or level doesn’t have enough money to cover all its expenses. Or, you’re having difficulty in keeping the records up-to-date, or if you’re worried in any way.
At unit level you should get in touch with your local commissioner. They’ll be able to support you in finding solutions and other volunteers who can help you and your unit. You can also contact [email protected] if you have any other queries.
Other levels should escalate any concerns to the next level in the first instance, and commissioners at a county or region level should contact Girlguiding HQ.
If you suspect Girlguiding money is being misused, contact your local commissioner or Girlguiding HQ immediately at [email protected]. They’ll handle the concern in line with our managing concerns about adult volunteers policy.
Gift Aid
You can claim Gift Aid on your unit's members’ subscriptions and on donations you receive, depending on His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) rules. You’ll also need the person giving you the money to sign a Gift Aid Declaration.
We encourage all units and levels who are eligible to claim Gift Aid each year from HMRC as it’s useful extra income. Units and levels in Scotland and Northern Ireland must be registered with their relevant charity regulator to claim Gift Aid.
Please note that claiming Gift Aid is only allowed where the parents and carers who pay the subscription also pay income tax.
Managing finances for overseas trips
For overseas trips you may want to use a prepaid card, sometimes known as a ‘cash card’. This is safer than carrying cash, and it may save you money on foreign exchange fees and exchange rates.
When picking a prepaid card you must make sure the provider is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, and be aware that money on the card is unlikely to be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
When setting up a prepaid card, you must follow this policy as you would for a bank account or debit card. This includes having at least 3 signatories, budgeting and keeping accurate records of accounts.
Prepaid cards are accepted by most ATMs and businesses that accept card payments overseas. You may not be able to use a prepaid card for transactions that need pre-authorisation, such as hotels and car hire deposits, and some fuel stations.
If you guide outside the UK, ask for advice from your country or region office about how to apply this policy while also complying with local regulations.
Fundraising income
You need to keep a separate record within your accounts of all money you make through fundraising, including the purpose of the fundraising, and apply all the actions above to this money.
For more about the rules of fundraising for Girlguiding, take a look at our fundraising policy.
Lending money
Lending money is only allowed at district level and above. For example, lending a unit money to cover unit membership fees. If money is lent, documentation and transparency is essential as explained in the 'Keeping accurate accounts' and 'End of year review' sections.
Investments
Units and levels are allowed to invest surplus money. Money required for unit running costs must never be invested. Trustees considering making investments must follow the relevant guidance from the relevant charity regulator in their country. Trustees must take independent advice from someone experienced in investments.
For England and Wales, this is the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
In Scotland, this is the Scottish Charity Regulator.
In Northern Ireland, this is the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, though trustees should follow the investment guidance from the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
For Members in British Overseas Territories only
Members in British Overseas Territories must abide by local legislation when applying this policy, where relevant.
