Message from Meg Heyworth, District 91 Finance Manager
Tax, Legal Requirements, Club Financial Term and other matters
Questions arising from club queries are welcomed by the finance team. A recent query was raised by Elizabeth, a club treasurer in District 91, enquiring if there was any particular accounting year end that club Treasurers should use. The answer from WHQ was that club financial years should run from 1 January to 31 December.
She commented that their club use 1 July to 30 June to fit in with the Toastmasters year. Meg sent on this query to her contacts at WHQ who sent this answer “To answer your question about the term year, district finance and related bank accounts are handled within the regular term year, July to June. However, club finances are handled and transferred during the regular calendar year. This is mainly due to IRS tax reporting and is something we cannot control.”
Perhaps UK accounting qualified members could let us know if they agree with this ruling as it is the responsibility of the individual clubs to determine the tax filing or other legal requirements in their city, state, province, and/or country, and to file proper forms as appropriate. Failure to comply with tax or other legal requirements may result in the revocation of a club’s charter.
WHQ also commented on the Club Treasurer section of the Club Leadership Handbook, which says that “operating a club bank account is not a requirement, but if the club decides to operate an account it is the club treasurer’s responsibility to turn over all financial records for the club at the end of the calendar year, this includes changing signers on the bank account. We understand that changing signers once a year can be cumbersome, but this is a control that is set by policy and having ‘senior members’ as designated signers over one year is not allowable.”
If any Treasurers have any other questions that they wish answered then do contact Meg who is happy to assist in finding the answers.
A few months ago, I sent out an email at work inviting colleagues to take part in a Speechcraft course during lunch breaks over 8 weeks. Speechcraft is an 8 week introduction to public speaking from Toastmasters. I knew there would be a few people who would be interested, but I wasn’t sure what kind of response I would get because it’s not a huge organisation – it has about 300 people who are office based.
As we were preparing for the Area Contest, a boy approached me, his face awash with consternation. “When are you going to be finished?” I advised we would certainly be done by 10pm. “But we are having Karate at 8pm in that room.”