Annual Report

Preparing for an Annual General Meeting can be one of those tasks for senior staff which barely rates a mention on the Job Description. However most CEOs soon discover that it is not only a serious responsibility, it can take up some valuable time to ensure it goes smoothly.

The AGM is an opportunity for the Board of Management to meet and face the membership, and for incoming Board members to make their public commitments to the organisation.

Many organisations also use the AGM to promote their services, and to network with stakeholders. Because there are statutory obligations to comply with, it is important to ensure the AGM goes smoothly.

Matrix has developed a suite of forms and checklists which organisations will find useful when preparing for the AGM.

AGM Suite[pdf]

Chairperson's Checklist [Word]

Australian Tax Office

The ATO website is a wealth of information about tax, charitable status, FBT, etc

Here is a selection of resources we use often...

Change of Registration Details form.... This is useful for changing the authorised Person and other details.

Endorsement Process to Access Charity Concessions

Guide to Deductible Gift Recipient Status

Checklist - employees and other workers

Use this checklist to help meet your tax and superannuation obligations if you employ workers. It includes information on your obligations when a new worker starts, during employment and when an employee leaves.

Unused leave payments on termination

We are often asked to assist our clients with calculating how much tax do they have to withold when they pay out someone who has left their employment.

Under the pay as you go (PAYG) withholding system, you are required to withhold amounts from certain payments made to payees. These amounts must be sent to the Tax Office and are held against the person's expected tax liability.

The guide (which can be downloadedin PDF format from here) explains how to, on termination of employment, work out the amount to withhold from payments of unused:

* annual leave, and
* long service leave.

Community Builders

CommunityBuilders, an initiative of the NSW government, is a great source of information about community services in NSW. It also has some great mailing lists which are worth getting on... To subscribe go here, and to visit the site, go here.

Spreadsheet for Calculating Redundancy

Under cerain circumstances, staff employed under the SACS Award in NSW may be entitled to receive redundancy payments in the event that their position is made redundant or the service closes. The payment entitlement depends on they years of service and age at redundancy, and how many staff are employed by the organisation.

Here is an Excel Spreadsheet to help work out the entitlement of staff at a certain date. This may also be useful to calculate the amount of provisions which should be set aside at the end of a period, if it is the organisation's policy to make such provisions.

Download Spreadsheet.

(The Spreadsheet is indicative only, and in the case of paying out provisions, the organisation should check with their employer association, union or accountant. The NSW Award is online here. )

Developing Your Organisation; A comprehensive resource

Developing Your Organisation was first published in 1994 by the Queensland Government Department of Families for use by the Department’s funded organisations and its resource officers.

The Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (CPNS) at the Queensland University of Technology was funded by the Department of Communities in 2005 to revise and expand the publication. This website has resources which are relevant to all Australian non-government agencies. It also includes downloadable lectures and training resources.

There are also references to the Standard Chart of Accounts.

Start Here

CPNS Podcasts

The Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, at Queensland University of Technology now provide a podcast of interesting news from around the NFP sector. If you have an MP3 player (eg ipod) and can subscribe to podcasts, go here for the link.

See here for links to QUT.

SACS Award

Link to the Social and Community Services Award in NSW. Here

Treating Arts as a Business

Brian Tucker is an accountant specialising in media and the arts. We really like what he wrote recently in ArtsHub and think that there is a strong message to all NFPs which receive goverment funding. (We also like his website!) Have a read of what he wrote here.

Asset Register

Looking for a simple Asset Register template? Use this Excel sheet and adapt it for your needs. Download here.

Taking Care of Business Seminar Series 2006

Program

Speakers' Profiles

Berry St (Sandie de Wolf) Presentation Handouts (Workshop 7)

Matrix On Board (Sam Togni) Presentation Handouts (Workshop 1 and 12)

Matrix On Board (Morri Young) Presentation Handouts (Workshop 8)

Freehills (Alice MacDougall) Presentation Handout (Workshop 3)

Australian Services Union (Linda White) Presentation Handouts (Workshop 11)

Benevolent Society of NSW (Maree Walk) Presentation Handout (Workshop 7)

QUT (Julie-Anne Mee) Presentation Handout (Workshop 4)

Matrix On Board (Dr Lisa Dive) Presentation Handouts (Workshop 7)

NSW Department of Community Services (Gul Ismir/Toni Milne) Presentation Handouts (Workshop 4)

The ATO was represented at the Sydney venue by Chris Downs. He has provided us with the following material:

Tax Office website, non-profit section: www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit
Tax Office non-profit information line: 1300 130 248

Some of key Tax Office publications (and their Tax Office identifier):
Income tax guide for non-profit organisations (NAT 7967)
Giftpack - for deductible gift recipients & donors (NAT 3132)
Non-profit organisations and fundraising (NAT 13095)
Volunteers and tax (NAT 4612)
Fringe benefits tax for non-profit organisations (NAT 14947)
Tax basics for non-profit organisations (NAT 7966)

Geraldine Doogue interview with Michael Traill of Social Ventures Australia, Elaine Henry of The Smith Family and Julie-Anne Mee of Queensland University of Technology... (Interview is the last few minutes of this broadcast) Link

Useful books and guides for managing financials in NGOs

Basic accounting for small groups, Second Edition by Cammack, J. (2003) (with exercises for individual and group learning). Oxfam Hardcopy can be ordered from Oxfam at: www.oxfam.org.uk/publications or free PDF version downloaded.

Guide for community treasurers. R Galbally and Westpac [PDF]

Voluntary Treasurer’s Handbook for small non-profit organisations. Prepared by Patrick Hoiberg for Institute of Chartered Accountants and Jim Hagan for GST Start-Up.

To Order

FAHAMU (2004) Practical financial management for NGOs, University of Oxford Department of Continuing Education. (CD Rom), $UK20 plus shipping/handling www.conted.ox.ac.uk http://www.adbi.org/3rdpartycdrom/2004/06/01/1120.financial.management.ngos/

GEVERS, L. (2000) Keeping books for a small community organisation: A handbook for Management Committee Members, Coordinators and Bookkeepers of small community organisations. North Freemantle, WA: Thomas-Gevers Pty Ltd. Available from (approx. $AU55): http://www.ggj.biz/about.html

RENTON, N. (2005) Clubs and non-profits: Keeping the books – A simple manual on accounts and tax. The Federation Press. Can be ordered (approx. $AU34.95) from Federation press at: http://www.federationpress.com.au/bookstore

RUEGG, D.L. & VENKATRATHNAM, L.M. (2003) Bookkeeping Basics. Saint Paul, MN, : Amherst Wilder Foundation.

Other References

AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION/ACTIVE (2000) Financial Management. Australian Sports Commission.

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT GROUP (1997) Financial management handbook. Carlton South: National Skillshare Association Ltd.

NEWMAN, M. (1995) Information for honorary treasurers of clubs and other nonprofits. The Federation Press.

VICTORIAN COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE (VCOSS) (1995) Managing money handbook, 2nd Edition. VCOSS.