Charity Bookkeeping
Monthly bookkeeping designed for charity fund accounting.
Charity bookkeeping is not the same as commercial bookkeeping. Restricted funds must be tracked separately, grants allocated correctly and management accounts presented in a format trustees can actually use. Getting the underlying records right makes accounts preparation, independent examination and funder reporting straightforward.
Monthly
Management accounts for trustees
Real-time
Restricted fund balance tracking
6 years
Minimum declaration record retention after accounting period end
The problem
The challenges trustees face.
Restricted fund tracking
Every restricted grant must be tracked from receipt to expenditure. If a grant is spent on something outside the permitted purpose, or the balance is not correctly reported to the funder, it can trigger clawback. Manual tracking in spreadsheets across multiple grants is error-prone.
Volunteer treasurer bandwidth
Many smaller charities rely on volunteer treasurers with limited time and accounting knowledge. Month-end reconciliation, bank statement coding and payroll journal entries accumulate quickly and can fall behind, creating problems at year end.
Management accounts for trustees
Trustees need regular financial information to fulfil their governance duties. Management accounts that are simply a spreadsheet download are difficult for non-finance trustees to interpret. Charity-specific presentation helps boards make better decisions.
Payroll and pension journals
Charities with employees need payroll journals coded to the correct fund (where staff costs are grant-funded) and pension contribution tracking. These need to flow correctly into the management accounts and ultimately the SOFA.
The work
How we help.
Monthly fund bookkeeping
We reconcile bank accounts, code transactions to the correct fund and cost centre, and maintain a running balance for each restricted and designated fund.
Trustee management accounts
Monthly or quarterly management accounts in a charity-appropriate format, showing income and expenditure by fund and against budget, ready for trustee board meetings.
Grant reconciliation reports
Fund-level reports tracking each grant from receipt to expenditure, ready for funder reporting and annual accounts preparation.
FAQ
Common questions
- Does a charity need to use specialist charity accounting software?
- No. Standard cloud accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks, Sage) can be configured for charity fund accounting with the right chart of accounts structure. The important thing is that restricted and unrestricted funds are tracked separately. We can work with your existing software or help you choose an appropriate package.
- How often should a charity treasurer review the accounts?
- Trustees have a legal duty to ensure the charity's finances are properly managed. The Charity Commission expects trustees to receive regular financial reports, typically monthly or quarterly depending on the charity's size. Waiting until year end to look at the accounts is a governance risk.
Speak to a charity accounts specialist.
Tell us about your charity, CIC or social enterprise and we will arrange a short introductory call. No obligation.
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