masonic lodges

taskey

my hubby has been asked to be the treasurer of his lodge (due to me doing accounts).

Does anyone do the accounts for any lodges and if they do, could you pm with details of any spreadsheets etc you run

thanks

Tracy

taskey

just bumping this up.

Thanks

Tracy

Andypandy

My youngest is completely obsessed with freemasonry

Monsoon

I don't know Tracy, sorry.

In the absence of any responses, I would have thought that the bookkeeping would be fairly straightforward as per any organisation - expenses into categories etc, and as per charities I expect they report on a cash accounting not accruals basis.

The parent HQ may have specific guidance for what they want recording.

HTH.

sdv

taskey wrote: »

just bumping this up.

Thanks

Tracy

need to know the serect hand shake before we can answer this!

taskey

thanks guys, i have now got the spreadsheets that they are using and the treasurer is 84 years old, so needless to say i have asked them to audit it all before i sign for it. i am also going through it with a fine tooth comb to see how they have done the spreadsheets.

it does all look fairly basic, i was just hoping for a bit of advice as to rules and regulations as there are charities involved too.

SVD, sorry, but my hubby wont even share the secret handshake with me

Tracy

taskey

OMG

i have now got their account which is in a right mess.

they have given me the balance sheet which consists of totals - which is fine as all of the bank balances are correct, as per statements.

now i am trying to do a new spreadsheet showing what is in each fund (income and expenditure), but the figures they have given me are only from last years movements. i dont think they have a running total from previous years - what should i do, should i do a guestimate going off last years movements? as if i dont start doing it now, it will just be a worse nightmare.

has anyone else had this to do? if so, what was the outcome - can anyone suggest a different layout or format.

i tried to put it into my accounting package, but got as far as inputting the bank balances and was stumped as to what funds these amounts are for.

AARRGGHH

wish i had not bothered now

Thanks in advance

Tracy

wildgoose1uk

Depends on the materiality of the transactions to some extent. I would be tempted to use the last filed accounts as a starting point as they will have been approved and presumably downloadable from the charity commission website and enter the years transactions form scratch.

Using the last annual accounts should give you the funds you need and assuming you have source documentation then you should have the info re this years tranactions then that should give you current figures with movements in funds.

Unless it is specified otherwise in the source documents then it is safe to take it into general funds. In fact I would expect most of the income would be general funds unless they have done any specific appeals during the year (eg. building fund, help4heroes etc) or applied for any grants.

The answer is always in the paperwork..... but it does take time to find it sometimes!

wildgoose1uk

ummmm..... just seen you are in Germany so some of the above may not be relevent!

taskey

thanks for that.

yes most of the income is generated by membership subs, and any functions that they have are paid by those attending, so in theory there is nothing left over.

i am right in thinking (really blond question here) that everything should balance to all of the bank accounts? there is no physical cash as it gets banked immediately. i know it is a yes, but i just cannot fathom out what to do next

Tracy

Monsoon

Maybe start at the present real situation (that you can quantify) and work backwards from there?

Sorry, I'm not much use with these ones, this stuff does my head in. I can only really do it if I'm staring at it.

Good luck Taskey!!

taskey

yes, i am going blind looking at it now. the present "balance sheet" balances with the banks, but i think i am going to just have to go with a % split of the funds going on the present uses. they have even thrown in a debtors figure which i feel has been made up to balance things out lol. i have asked for proof of the debtors.

I suppose as long as i can show the bank balances are correct and a rough split of the funds then it will go forward from this point in time.

that will teach me to trust a room full of old men lol

Once again thanks

Tracy

Monsoon

taskey wrote: »

that will teach me to trust a room full of old men lol

wildgoose1uk

As long as the funds are allocated and not restricted then is is all pretty academic anyway

anniem

Nearly all of the funds going in are subs, fines (for misdemeanours) and fundraising. I'm pretty sure debtors will only be unpaid subs as at the year end. PM me with queries.

Then of course, there will be the Goat Expenses, as they periodically like to replace the company goat with a prettier one (In house joke I'm afraid!)

taskey

thanks Anna

i am getting there with it

does the goat come under property? lol

Will pm you if i need any further help - i take it you might have dealt with this kind of thing?

tracy