Free resources for charity treasurers
The honorary treasurer's job description says "looks after the finances". What it actually involves is explaining those finances to a board who may not read them closely, keeping on top of filing dates nobody else is watching, and being the person everyone turns to the moment a funder asks a question. Often while holding down a day job, and quite often as the only person on the board who has ever looked at a set of charity accounts.
This page gathers the material on this site that is most useful in that role. It is all free, none of it is gated, and there is nothing to sign up to.
1. Your filing dates, in one place
Most treasurer stress is not caused by difficult accounting. It is caused by a date nobody had written down.
Deadline checker
Enter your financial year end and your structure, and get every filing deadline that applies to you — Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI and Companies House — with calendar reminders to download. Worked out in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
Check your dates →Charity compliance calendar
Every recurring deadline a charity board faces — annual return, accounts, policy reviews, trustee terms — pre-loaded, with a days-until-due countdown and a year-end deadline calculator. The one spreadsheet worth handing to your successor.
Download free →Your annual return, step by step
What the Charity Commission actually asks for, what changes as your income crosses each threshold, and which dates matter for your particular year end.
Read the guide →2. What is changing in 2026 and 2027
Two changes land on treasurers specifically, and both affect the next set of accounts most charities will prepare.
Audit and examination thresholds change on 30 September 2026
Several charity financial thresholds in England and Wales rise, moving many charities to lighter-touch scrutiny. The old and new figures side by side, and what it means for your next examination.
Read the guide →Charities SORP 2026
The new accounting rulebook applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, right across the UK. A move to tiered reporting by income, plus changes to how you account for income and leases. Worth a conversation with your examiner before your year end, not after.
Read the guide →Everything changing for charities in 2026 and 2027
The wider picture: Companies House identity verification, the September thresholds, SORP 2026 and Martyn's Law — which apply to your charity, and what to put on your next three agendas.
Read the guide →3. Controls that protect you as much as the charity
Good financial controls are usually discussed as a way of protecting charity funds. They are just as much about protecting the treasurer — because the person who handles the money alone is the person with no evidence when a question is asked.
Financial controls policy
Dual authorisation, spending limits, cash handling and expenses, built on one golden rule: no single person controls a transaction from start to finish. Includes a fill-in authorisation table so your board can agree limits in one meeting.
Download free →Conflicts of interest policy and register
A ready-to-adopt policy with the two forms that make it work — a register of interests and a trustee declaration. Particularly relevant to treasurers, who tend to be the ones spotting a connected supplier.
Download free →4. Explaining the numbers to your board
The whole board is collectively responsible for the charity's finances — not the treasurer alone. That only works in practice if the rest of the board can understand what they are being shown.
The treasurer's report: what the board actually needs
Why circulating the bank balance is not a finance report, the restricted funds point that small boards most often get wrong, and a one-page structure that gets trustees asking useful questions instead of nodding politely.
Read the guide →Writing your trustees' annual report
Both a legal requirement and your best story to funders. What it must contain, the public benefit statement, and how to make sure the narrative matches the figures in the accounts.
Download free →5. The paperwork around the table
Treasurers end up carrying a surprising amount of the board's administration, usually because they are the person already organised enough to do it.
Charity board minutes template
A Charity Commission–friendly layout with decision and action logs built in, plus a one-page guide to what minutes must — and needn't — record.
Get the template →Decision log & action tracker
Two logs in one workbook: every decision numbered in its exact wording, and a rolling action log with owners, due dates and an automatic overdue counter.
Download free →Board health check
Ten questions scored against the 2025 Charity Governance Code, with an instant report naming your priority fixes and a free template for each. Scored in your browser; nothing leaves your device.
Check your board →New to the role?
If you have recently taken over as treasurer, the two most useful hours you can spend are these. First, read your governing document — specifically what it says about who can authorise spending, what reserves you are meant to hold, and what the board must approve. Second, sit down with your predecessor, if you can, and write down where everything actually is: the bank mandate, the online banking access, the last three years of accounts, the Gift Aid claims, and who your independent examiner is.
Almost every difficult treasurer handover is difficult because that second conversation never happened.
Everything on this page is general information for trustees and committee members, not legal, accounting or financial advice, and every charity is different. Rules change, so confirm the current position with your regulator or a suitably qualified adviser before acting.
If the minutes have landed on you too
Treasurers often end up taking the minutes as well, which is a poor use of the one person watching the numbers. The Committee Room drafts board-ready minutes from your recording — £19 a meeting, back within two working days, checked by a chartered governance professional.
See how it works