10 Qualities of a Great Club Treasurer

So, you volunteered to become the treasurer for your RC club or other organization?  Being a financial person in your “day-job” helps but isn’t necessary to be a great club treasurer. 

Other than being willing to do it, here are ten characteristics that make an excellent treasurer:

1.      Good custodian – you have the aptitude and temperament to take care of things.  You are the custodian of the Club’s finances.  This includes expenditures, revenue, and in most cases, any tax reporting.  Being a good custodian means respecting the importance of the Club’s finances and take care to manage them properly.

2.      Transparency – Transparency builds trust and proper internal controls.  It would help if you were comfortable putting your work out for all to see.  Only through independent review and scrutiny can everyone trust what you are doing.  It would be best if you had the self-confidence to display your work. Comfort with reporting, explaining, and documenting what you are doing is key to transparency. 

3.      Detail-oriented – Money and expenses require a detailed focus to be adequately managed.  Are you a detail-oriented person, or do you like the big picture?  You will most likely be doing all the work, so you need to be comfortable. Remember, a club is not a big for-profit organization; there is probably no PeopleSoft, Oracle, or Workday!  It is just you and either Excel, Numbers, or a rudimentary product. 

 The detail-oriented focus extends to understanding the Club’s bylaws and rules.  You are probably an executive officer of the Club, so this will go beyond accounting and finances.

4.      Good communicator – Along with transparency – you need to explain financial concepts to non-finance people.  There will be skeptical club members that either don’t understand the finances or don’t have complete trust in you.  Being an effective communicator is a required skill. 

5.      Able to Support the Club’s leadership – you are an executive member of the Club, so you need to be able to advise and consult the Club’s leadership on what can be afforded, what can’t, what you are spending money on, and how fundraising is going. That’s probably obvious even to brand-new treasurers. But there is a second treasurer duty that’s almost as important as the first: You must provide financial information to support decision making.

6.      Understand cash flow statement – There is typically no accrual accounting – it is all about what came into the bank account and what went out.  Club accounting is all about cash flow reporting.

7.      Trust but verify – you are friends with the club members, but you need to ensure that basic fiducial rules are followed – basic receipt/documentation requirements for everyone – consistency will help build trust and take the friendship card out of it.

8.      Honest - Critical as club members know you and probably already trust you – see #7 above – this is a fine line.

9.      Ideally, a finance or accounting background – not needed but helps.  Even effectively managing your own personal or family finances will be beneficial.

10.    Flexible – This is not a major corporation, so you need to be flexible with the membership – Clubs are organized around a common interest, and accounting and finances are not the main focus of the Club.  There are typically no stockholders, strict forecasts, so when the Club membership wants to do something, you need to pivot and move into #5 above.

You should feel good about serving the Club.  Many clubs’ successes result from the diverse members contributing their varied talents.  

Be mindful of these ten key attributes, and you are on the way to being a great club treasurer.