Pulling a Report
As the Local Spiritual Assemblies “financial manager,” some important aspects of your job are to carry out the details of handling and reporting the Assembly’s finances, to help the friends understand the spiritual nature of giving and to inspire them to show their love for the Cause by supporting its activities. With your records up to date, the next task is to let the friends know what has happened in the Fund. The first several chapters of this manual look at some of these issues; here we are going to see how current records can make communications with the Assembly and the community more effective. It’s important to keep in mind the Annual Report is due by Ridván
How to Access Treasurer’s Report Video
Making Reports
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Make regular reports to the Local Spiritual Assembly on total income and expenses, community participation, money in the bank and bills to be paid.
The Assembly should always be aware of the condition of the Local Fund. To ensure that the Assembly is well-informed the Treasurer has been given the added responsibility of making regular reports. The Assembly needs to know, among other things:
● The amount of money that was received in contributions and whether or not the community has reached the monthly contributions goal.
● Any additional revenues received.
● The amount of money that was spent during the month and how it was spent.
● The amount of money currently in the bank.
● The percentage of the friends who contributed to the Local Fund during the month.
● The bills that need to be paid.
● Whether the community is ahead or behind in reaching its annual contributions goals.
In order to assist the Secretary and reduce errors, it is a good idea to give a copy of the Treasurer’s report to the Secretary for the Assembly’s minutes.
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● Education on the spiritual nature of giving and sacrifice.
● The status of the community’s Fund contribution goal each Bahá’í month.
● The percentage of the community giving to the Fund each Bahá’í month (strive always for universal participation).
This is one place where the Treasurer’s role as an educator and inspirer comes into play.When the Treasurer reports, at Feast and at other times, they should not only be concerned with bringing the friends up to date on the status of the Funds, but they will also want to discuss the spiritual nature of giving and the importance of sacrifice. Other information for the friends might be the participation level in giving; the Assembly and the Treasurer will want to decide how to make these reports based on the community’s needs and objectives.
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Reporting to the community can be one of your most rewarding duties as Treasurer. Many of the materials needed to prepare an interesting report are already at your fingertips. They include the following:
● Articles from The American Bahá’í.
● Periodic reports and letters from the Treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly.
● Deepening programs on the Fund available from the Office of the Treasurer.
● The Bahá’í Treasurers Bulletin (BTB ) is an electronic newsletter for Treasurers sent in time for each Feast. It is emailed to the dedicated email addresses for each Treasurer and Secretary of the Local Assembly.
● The BTB is designed to assist and strengthen Treasurers in their role as stewards of the Fund, and contains the latest news updates, helpful tips, frequently asked questions and community stories and activities related to the Fund.
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For Assembly meetings and Feasts, it is a good idea to prepare a Monthly Report of Income and Expense Form similar to the one below.
This report should include the Balance in the bank at both the beginning and the end of the month, totals for the month’s Income and Expenses, and bills to be paid. The Treasurer should also report what percentage of the community participated in giving to the Fund and whether or not the monthly contributions goals were met. Most of this information can be taken from the monthly totals in the cash journal. Preparing this report each month will help present reports for Assembly meetings and Feasts in a clear and organized way.
Preparing the Year-to-Date Report of Income and Expense
Once or twice during the year, the Assembly should ask its Treasurer to prepare a Yearto-Date Report of Income and Expenses, similar to the one in below, so that the current state of the Local Fund can be compared to the budget. As in the monthly report, most of the figures can be taken from the year-to-date totals in the cash journal. The remaining information will come from the Assembly’s budget. When completed, this report enables the Assembly to see if it is keeping within its budget.
Year-to-Date Report of Income and Expenses
The only difficult part of preparing the year-to-date Report of Income and Expenses is to figure out where the Assembly is at a certain point in time in relation to the annual budget. For example, assume that ten Bahá’í months have passed and we are preparing the half-year report. First, take the figures from the annual budget, divide each figure by 19 (the number of months in the Bahá’í year) and then multiply each by 10 (the number of months since the beginning of the fiscal year). We can now compare actual year-todate results to the Assembly’s year-to-date budget. This report can be prepared any time during the year. For example, if the Assembly wants a quarterly report at the end of the first five months, just divide each budget Stewardship and Development 41 amount by 19 and then multiply by five. A year-to-date Report of Income and Expenses can also be used in reporting of the annual meeting on April 20th and again with the actual figures at the end of the Bahá’í fiscal year.
