Many candidates will have personal experience of club or society accounts, whether as club member recipients of the accounts or whether in helping to prepare the accounts. This experience can be drawn upon when teaching this topic. Unfortunately, though, club accounts are often not prepared according to good accounting principles.
Questions on this topic can be set with various kinds of starting information.The questions usually start from either a trial balance or a Receipts & Payments Account. Plenty of care is needed to answer the questions and some distinctive terms should be learned. Club accounts, nevertheless, are based on the same accounting principles as those for a business.
Topic summary
● The deficiencies of a Receipts & Payments Account
● The presentation of an Income & Expenditure Account with regard to the distinctive features of club or society accounts
● The suitable and effective presentation of subsidiary income and expense information
● The calculation of the accumulated fund of a club or society
● The presentation of a balance sheet of a club or society
● The correct recording of amounts received through donations
Extended Syllabus references
21.1 The differences between a Receipts & Payments Account and an Income &
Expenditure Account
21.2 The preparation of an Income & Expenditure Account from a list of balances or from a Receipts & Payments Account (both with supporting data)
21.3 The suitable grouping of associated items of income and expenditure within an Income & Expenditure Account
21.4 The preparation, if required, of an ancillary account for trading activities, eg Refreshments Account, and the carrying of the surplus/deficit into the Income
& Expenditure Account
21.5 The preparation of the balance sheet of a club or society
21.6 The calculation, if necessary, of the amount of the Accumulated Fund
Step 1
1 Explain the nature of a Receipts & Payments Account, ie that it represents a summary (in debit and credit form) of cash/bank transactions for a given period.
2 Display the example of a Receipts & Payments Account that follows on the board or overhead projector.
Example
Linkwell Social Club Receipts & Payments Account for the year ended 31 December Year 9
Receipts £ £ Payments £
Balance at bank, 1 Jan Yr 9 870 Hire of rooms 1,860
Subscriptions Printing and stationery 570
received: Purchase of video equipment 1,160
Year ended 31 Dec Yr 8 420 Hire of films 320
31 Dec Yr 9 4,100 Annual social 490
31 Dec Yr 10 240 Visit to Bruges 380
4,760 Balance at bank, 31 Dec Yr 9 850
5,630 5,630
3 Point out that the 2 sides of the account relate to the debit and credit of a cash or bank account.The amounts, however, are item totals for the year and not individual transaction entries.
Ask the students to identify the weaknesses of a Receipts & Payments Account.
The weaknesses are that:
● there is no allowance for accruals and/or prepayments, eg subscriptions are included for Years 8 and 10;
● no account is taken of capital expenditure as distinct from revenue expenditure, eg the video equipment is fully charged to Year 9 even though it may well be in use for several years;
● by itself the Receipts & Payments Account is incomplete: there is no mention of assets owned other than those mentioned in the account;
● there is no mention of liabilities and, unfortunately, the Receipts & Payments Account is sometimes the only account statement issued to members.
Regarding the third and fourth points, assets and liabilities should be dealt with separately, ie in a balance sheet. The club or society members also need to know by means of the balance sheet whether the capital has increased or decreased over the period and why this is so.
Club and society accounts
Aim: to recognize the deficiencies of a Receipts & Payments Account
Step 2
1 Explain that the Income & Expenditure Account is used by clubs and societies, ie non-profit-making organizations, as a replacement for the Profit & Loss Account. The account has certain distinctive features, but it is constructed on similar principles to the Profit & Loss Account. It incorporates adjustments for:
● accruals
● prepayments
● provision for depreciation of fixed assets.
Thus, the reason for using an Income & Expenditure Account is to include only ‘true’
income & expenditure for a period, in order to obtain a result that correctly reflects the activities of the club or society for the period.
2 Tell the students that, like the Profit & Loss Account, the Income & Expenditure Account is part of the double-entry system: the period totals for income and the various expenses are transferred to it from the General Ledger.
3 Emphasize that the final accounts issued to members of clubs or societies should be:
● meaningful
● relevant
● easily understood.
Many club members may have little if any knowledge of accounting. They should be supplied with statements that are informative and yet easily read.The members should not have to search for separate pieces of information and then have to put them together to form a complete financial picture.Therefore, matters relating to a particular topic should be brought together, ie items should be appropriately ‘grouped’.
4 Illustrate how to present an Income & Expenditure Account by showing the example opposite on the board or overhead projector.
Club and society accounts
Aim: to be able to present an Income & Expenditure Account with regard to the distinctive features of club or society accounts
Example
Tattenham Sports Club Trial balance at 31 December Year 4
Dr Cr
£ £
Sports equipment at cost 6,300 Video equipment at cost 2,200 Provision for depreciation:
Surplus on annual dance 180
Accumulated fund 4,430
14,960 14,960
Additional information that applies at 31 December Year 4:
(1) subscriptions: £280 has been received in advance of Year 5; £360 is accrued due for Year 4;
(2) rent payable accrued due amounted to £400;
(3) prepaid insurance £80;
(4) depreciation to be provided:
sports equipment – 20% on cost video equipment – 121/2% on cost.
Required
An Income & Expenditure Account for Tattenham Sports Club for the year ended 31 December Year 4.
Note
Remind the students that capital expenditure items and liabilities are not included in this account.They are shown in the balance sheet, which is dealt with on page 196.
Club and society accounts
Solution
Tattenham Sports Club Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 December Year 4
Expenditure £ £ Income £
Rent payable (+400) 3,800 Subscriptions 7,150
Insurance (-80) 450 less received in advance 280
Telephone and postage 410 6,870
General expenses 260 add accrued due for Year 4 360
7,230 Depreciation:
Sports equipment 1,260 Annual dance – surplus 180
Video equipment 275 1,535 Surplus of income
over expenditure 955
7,410 7,410
5 Point out that a common mistake made by candidates is that they confuse this account with the Receipts & Payments Account. Stress that income is entered on the credit side of Income & Expenditure Account and expenditure on the debit side, as they are in the Profit & Loss Account.
6 Subscriptions
Highlight the fact that in the above account, it is acceptable merely to state ‘7,230’
against subscriptions without any detail of adjustments. However, the students should be warned that this method is unwise. Examiners like to award marks for correct workings, if possible. If only the adjusted figure is given with no indication of the adjustments made and that figure is incorrect, then no marks for workings can be awarded.
An alternative to showing adjustments within the Income & Expenditure Account is to key the adjusted figures to workings shown clearly after the account.This practice can, of course, be applied to other workings and is discussed further in Lesson 25.
7 Events
Clubs or societies may hold events or have special occasions, eg a dance, a social, a day out, or a trip abroad.These events may be aimed at raising funds.The outcome may be a surplus, which can boost club funds, or it may be a deficit where expenditure exceeds income.These events might involve 2 or even 3 items that are classified as partly income and partly expenditure.
The members would be interested in the result of any particular event, ie whether a surplus or a deficit. It is therefore essential that these items are brought together, ie
‘grouped’. If the outcome is a deficit, the group should be positioned on the debit side;
if a surplus, the group should be on the credit side. Candidates often fail to position groups correctly and consequently lose marks.
Club and society accounts