Local meeting treasurers are responsible for the financial resources of the local meeting. They attend regular finance committee meetings and report back to meeting for business. They prepare and present the local meeting's annual accounts to submit to the area meeting treasurer.

Area meeting treasurers are responsible for combining the accounts of local meetings, area meeting and relevant trusts into collated accounts. They are normally an ex-officio trustee of the charity and are responsible for the overall financial resources of the area meeting.

Support for treasurers

    Resource

    Treasurers' guidance sheets

    The Quaker treasurers' guidance sheets offer supplementary guidance to be used in conjunction with the ACAT handbook.

    Resources

    ACAT Handbook

    The primary source of reference for Quaker treasurers on legal and financial matters is the ACAT (Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers) handbook, which can be accessed at www.acat.uk.com. Britain Yearly Meeting has a membership with ACAT covering all area meeting and local meeting treasurers – if you are a treasurer and have not yet received the ACAT login details, please contact Quaker Life, supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk.

    Treasurers' guidance sheets

    The Quaker treasurers' guidance sheets offer supplementary guidance to be used in conjunction with the ACAT handbook (see above). There are 25 guidance sheets – one for each chapter of the ACAT handbook – and all 25 are contained in the PDF linked to below. Please read the introduction first as this gives a brief overview of how to use these sheets as well as other information and resources that may be of help.

    Trustees' and Treasurers' News

    This newsletter for Quaker trustees and treasurers comes out three times a year.

    Quaker accounting spreadsheets and software

    The Quaker Cash Book Spreadsheet for recording local meeting and area meeting transactions is available to download through the PDF document below. The End of Year spreadsheet and the AM Collation spreadsheet did not match the new layout of the SOFA required by SORP 2015. Quaker Stewardship Committee (laid down at Yearly Meeting 2022) decided not to continue maintaining these spreadsheets against changing requirements, and so they have been discontinued. Both the Charity Commission in England and Wales (CC) and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) now provide spreadsheet templates for the annual report that partially replace these spreadsheets. In view of the demise of the End of Year spreadsheet the new version 10a of the Cash Book spreadsheet has been given some limited end-of-year functions to make it easier to transfer the column totals into the Charity Commission template.

    The technical support email for the spreadsheets is treasurersIT@quaker.org.uk.

    Simpler meetings

    The Simpler meetings project has resources that treasurers may find useful. Visit the project webpage at www.quaker.org.uk/simplermeetings for more information.

    Checklists for reports and accounts

    There are checklists provided so trustees and treasurers can check whether their report and accounts are complete: England & Wales (Word) and Scotland (Word). These documents were revised in 2021.

    Trustees' annual review, annual report and financial statements

    Our faith, our work

    Recommended reading

    General support

    Asking for help

    If you haven't found the information you are looking for on this page and need further general treasurer support, please send an email to supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk and we will get back to you.

    Peer support - AM treasurers e-group

    The e-group for Quaker treasurers offers peer support on all aspects of the role. It is currently for area meeting treasurers. If you would like to be subscribed to the e-group please contact supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk. If you are no longer the treasurer of your AM please also get in touch to be unsubscribed and let us know who should be subscribed instead.

    Contributions material and support

    Asking for help

    For all enquiries relating to contributions, please contact Maisa Monteiro on 020 7663 1015 or at contributions@quaker.org.uk.

    Contributions pack

    Each year we produce a contributions pack for treasurers and collectors to use to encourage contributions from meetings. You can find electronic versions of the documents in this pack at www.quaker.org.uk/contributions. If you would like paper copies to give out in your meeting please contact Maisa Monteiro on 020 7663 1015 or at contributions@quaker.org.uk.

    Area meeting contribution reports

    Area meeting treasurers can request a quarterly report on their giving to Britain Yearly Meeting by emailing contributions@quaker.org.uk. The report is broken down by local meeting and also shows a total for direct giving by individuals.

    Paying-in slips

    Treasurers should use these paying-in slips for meeting contributions to Britain Yearly Meeting sent by cheque or BACS transfer. These will help your meeting's contribution get to the right place and any allocation details to be logged correctly.

    Please return the BACS paying-in slip to contributions@quaker.org.uk and finance@quaker.org.uk.
    If you have any problems using this editable PDF form, please contact contributions@quaker.org.uk.

    Gift Aid

    Your Quaker meeting can claim back 25p from HMRC every time an individual donates £1 to your charity. This is called Gift Aid. You must be registered with HMRC to claim Gift Aid and the donors must be UK taxpayers who have made a Gift Aid declaration. They must have paid the same amount or more in Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax in that tax year. See www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid for further information.

    There is a Gift Aid declaration section on all Quaker contribution forms at www.quaker.org.uk/contributions.

    Information sheets on Gift Aid for treasurers:

    See also information below on the GASDS which you can consider if your meeting already claims Gift Aid.

    Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme

    The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) allows eligible charities to claim 'top-up' payments. You may be able to claim 25% on:

    • cash donations of £30 or less
    • contactless card donations of £30 or less collected on or after 6 April 2019

    Donations can be in any foreign currency. You don't need to know the identity of the donors or collect Gift Aid declarations, which makes it easier to claim on donations like street collections.

    See www.gov.uk/guidance/claiming-a-top-up-payment-on-small-charitable-donations and www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid/small-donations-scheme for further information about eligibility and making a claim.

    Information sheets on Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme for treasurers:

    Training and events

    Conferences for Treasurers and Trustees

    Useful documents from the last conference:

    Treasurers' training at Woodbrooke

    Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and Quaker Life are looking at the training needs for treasurers. There will be a new offer in 2022, details of which will be made available on this page. You can contact Woodbrooke directly, www.woodbrooke.org.uk, email enquiries@woodbrooke.org.uk or phone 0121 472 5171.

    Featured blog

    Roots and branches: sharing and supporting our Quaker work

    17 September 2020 by Maisa Monteiro

    ​Maisa Monteiro explains how she found a new way to encapsulate the varied work Britain Yearly Meeting does with and on behalf of Quakers.

    Contact us

    For treasurers' support, please email
    supportmeetings@quaker.org.uk

    ACAT Handbook

    ACAT Handbook

    Britain Yearly Meeting provides a block membership for Quaker meeting treasurers to the Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers. This includes access to a comprehensive online handbook (see full details at top of page).
    New giving pages

    New giving pages

    Visit our new giving pages to find out more about giving to support Quaker work now and into the future.