Receipts for club treasurers: keeping the books clean
Treasurer receipts made simple: what a club treasurer must collect, how to handle members' out-of-pocket expenses and how to keep the club's books ready for audit.
In short: As a club treasurer you need a receipt for every expense and every item of income, otherwise the auditors cannot approve the annual accounts. Collect receipts as they arise rather than before the annual general meeting, insist on the original receipt for every reimbursement to members, and keep everything for ten years.
The treasurer's job is often the most thankless one in a club: nobody notices when it runs smoothly, but everybody notices when a number does not add up at the annual general meeting. The most common cause of trouble is not wrong entries but missing receipts. The coach bought balls and lost the slip, the person running the bar paid for drinks in cash and only has a note on a scrap of paper, and a committee member paid for the club dinner with a private card.
This article shows which treasurer receipts you need, how to get members to hand them in, and how to run the club's books so the audit takes an hour instead of a weekend. It is written from a Swiss perspective, where clubs are organised as a Verein (association) under the Civil Code, but the practical advice applies to most small nonprofits.
Which receipts does a club need at all?
The principle is simple: no entry without a receipt. That applies to every franc that leaves or enters the club's accounts. Most Swiss clubs keep simple books of income, expenses and net assets under Art. 957 para. 2 of the Code of Obligations (OR), often called a "Milchbüchleinrechnung" (literally a milk-book account). Even that requires receipts, and the ten-year retention duty under Art. 958f OR applies by analogy.
Typical receipts in a club:
- Expenses: invoices for rent, equipment, coaching fees, insurance, printing, federation dues.
- Members' out-of-pocket expenses: receipts for balls, drinks, prizes or train tickets that someone paid privately and wants reimbursed.
- Income: membership fees (bank statement), donations (thank-you letter or payment slip), event takings (cash report with opening and closing balance).
- Petty cash: a cash book with every movement and the receipt behind it.
- Contracts: lease for the clubhouse, sponsorship agreements, arrangements with coaches.
An example: a gymnastics club with 120 members has around 90 expense receipts a year, 30 expense claims from coaches and leaders, four cash reports from the club festival and the bank statements. That is about 150 documents. Whoever gathers them in December needs a weekend. Whoever captures them as they come in needs five minutes a week.
How do you get members to hand in their receipts?
Make the rule simple and without exceptions: reimbursement only against the original receipt, submitted within 30 days. No receipt, no money. That sounds harsh, but it protects you as treasurer and it protects the club. Without a receipt you cannot show the auditors what the money was spent on.
A simple expense claim form helps the rule work in everyday life. It needs these fields:
- Name and role of the person
- Date and purpose of the expense (for example "drinks, junior tournament, 14 June")
- Amount and payment method
- Receipt attached, or a photo of it included
- Signature of the person and approval by a second committee member
It gets even easier when members photograph the receipt with their phone and send it to you. If you then scan receipts with an app such as Belego, every receipt becomes a PDF with date, amount and category, and the crumpled slip from the coach's bag is preserved in readable form before it fades.
If a receipt is truly lost, a self-made receipt (Eigenbeleg) can help in exceptional cases: the person writes down what they bought, when, where and for how much, and signs it. That should remain a rare exception. What such a document looks like is explained in the article on the Eigenbeleg.
How do you run the club's books so the audit is quick?
The audit is quick when every entry has a number and the receipt can be found under that number in five seconds. Auditors work by sampling: they pick an entry from the cash book and want to see the receipt, and vice versa. Everything else is a bonus.
A filing system that has proven itself in many clubs:
| Step | What you do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Every receipt gets a running number (2026-001) | Unambiguous link to the entry |
| Categorise | Category matching the budget line (equipment, events, rent) | Comparison with the budget at the AGM |
| File | Digitally as a PDF named by number, paper in a folder by number | Doubly safe, quick to find |
| Reconcile | Compare cash book with bank statement and petty cash monthly | Find errors early instead of in December |
Which categories make sense depends on your club's budget. The best approach is to use exactly the budget lines the AGM approved, so that accounts and budget line up at the next meeting. The article on receipt categories has tips on this.
An extra rule applies to petty cash: after every event, a cash report with opening balance, takings, outgoings and closing balance, signed by two people. That report is the receipt for the event income, because nobody gets a receipt for the sausages they sold.
What about receipts that are not in the club's name?
Receipts in a member's name are fine as long as it is clear the expense was for the club. A supermarket till receipt has no name on it anyway. For invoices over larger amounts, though, insist that they are issued to the club, for example kit for CHF 1,800 or the rent for the sports hall.
For income it is the other way round: when someone pays the club, say for a jersey or a course fee in cash, you issue a receipt. It must show the date, amount, purpose, the club's name and your signature. You will find a template in the article on how to write a receipt. Keep the carbon copy or a photo for the club's books.
Donations are a special case: donors often want a confirmation for their tax return. Whether the club is recognised for that purpose at all is decided by the cantonal tax administration. Only issue donation confirmations if that recognition exists, and keep a copy of each one.
How do you hand the books over to your successor?
A clean handover needs three things: the closed annual accounts with the auditors' report, the complete receipt archive of the last ten years, and a short written guide to how the system works. Handing over the treasury in a shoebox leaves your successor with a problem that often only surfaces two AGMs later.
Digital handovers are easier. An export of all receipts as a ZIP with PDFs and a CSV list fits on a USB stick or in an email, and the new treasurer can carry on with it on their own device. That also secures the ten years of retention without anyone storing folders in the attic. The article on year-end receipts shows how to prepare the annual close, and a basic filing system is described in the article on how to organise receipts.
Frequently asked questions
Do small clubs really have to keep receipts?
Yes. Even clubs not registered in the commercial register must record income, expenses and net assets under Art. 957 para. 2 OR, and that requires receipts. The retention period is ten years. Regardless of the law, the statutes of almost every club require an audit, and an audit is impossible without receipts. Missing receipts are the most common reason annual accounts are not approved.
Can I pay club expenses with my private card as treasurer?
It is allowed but not recommended. Every payment from a private account needs a reimbursement with receipt and approval, and that mixes private money with club money. A club card or a club account with access for two committee members is better. If there is no other way, file the receipt immediately and have the reimbursement approved by a second committee member.
How long does a club have to keep bank statements?
Bank statements are accounting records and must be kept for ten years, the same as invoices and receipts. Since many banks only provide statements online for a few years, download them as PDFs every year and file them with the annual close. For the audit, the statement as at 31 December is particularly important because it proves the club's assets.
What if a member has lost the receipt?
First look for a substitute: for card payments the bank statement together with a confirmation from the merchant is often enough, for online purchases the order confirmation. If neither works, the person can write a self-made receipt with date, purpose, amount and signature. The committee decides whether to approve the reimbursement anyway. This should stay an exception and be recorded in the minutes.