Your charity financial year and opening balances

The year end

"Our financial year ends at the end of" is whatever your constitution says. Most charities end in March or in December.

It decides the dates a new budget is suggested with, the period the Reports page opens on, and what "this financial year" means on a statement. Set it once, at the beginning, from the governing document rather than from memory.

The opening balance

"What was in the bank" plus "On what date" is the single figure the cashflow counts up and down from. Take it from a statement.

You can set it here or from the "What is in the bank" button on the Cashflow page - they are the same two fields. Until it is set, the cashflow counts from nought and says so.

Change them when they were wrong

Both of these change every figure on the budget, the cashflow and the management accounts. That is not a reason never to touch them; it is a reason to touch them when something was actually wrong rather than to see what happens.

More guides

• Before this: Recording cash, savings and more than one bank account
• Next: Keeping a trustee register, terms of office and DBS checks
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