Swimming club treasurer handover checklist

A good treasurer handover gives the next person access to the money, a clear picture of what comes in and goes out, and the reasoning behind the numbers. Most of it can be done in one sitting if the outgoing treasurer works from a checklist. The part that usually goes missing is the reasoning: why each squad pays what it does, and which arrangements were agreed informally.

Use this list whether you are leaving the role or taking it on.

1. Bank and payment access

• Update the bank mandate: remove the outgoing treasurer as a signatory and add the new one. Banks can take weeks, so start this first.
• Hand over access to the club's online banking under the new treasurer's own login. Never share one person's login.
• Transfer admin access to whatever the club uses to collect fees, including Direct Debit.
• List any cards, cheque books or cash floats and who holds them.

2. What comes in

• The current fee structure for every squad, and the reasoning behind it.
• Discounts, sibling reductions and hardship arrangements, including any agreed informally.
• A list of families in arrears, how much and for how long, and what has already been said to them.
• Other income: gala entry fees, kit, fundraising, grants and sponsorship, with any conditions attached.

3. What goes out

• Pool hire agreements for each venue: rates, notice periods and renewal dates.
• How coaches are paid: employed or self-employed, rates, how hours are recorded and when they are paid.
• Regular commitments: affiliation, insurance, software subscriptions, equipment and coach education.
• Any known costs coming up this season.

4. Records and reporting

• The last set of accounts and the name of the club's accountant or independent examiner.
• The current year's records, where they are kept, and the budget agreed at the last AGM.
• The reserves policy, if the club has one.
• Any reporting the club owes to funders, or to HMRC if the club is a registered charity or Community Amateur Sports Club.
• The timetable for the next AGM report.

5. The reasoning nobody writes down

This is the part that makes the difference. Sit down for an hour and talk through:

• Which squads cover their costs and which do not, and whether that is deliberate.
• Which arrangements were informal agreements with a coach, a venue or a family.
• What the committee has already decided about fees for next season.
• What worried you most in the role.

Write the answers down and put them where the committee can find them, not in a personal email account.

6. Logins and data

• Make a list of every system the treasurer uses and transfer access properly, role by role.
• Remove the outgoing treasurer's access once the handover is complete.
• Check where financial records with members' personal data are stored. A personal laptop or a private cloud folder is a data protection risk for the club.

Why handovers go wrong

Handovers fail when the club's finances live in one person's spreadsheet and memory. The new treasurer inherits a file they did not build, rules nobody wrote down, and arrears they cannot explain. Clubs lose good treasurers early for exactly this reason.

When fees, invoices, payments and squad costs live in a shared system, the handover becomes a change of access rather than a transfer of knowledge. In Olympus Swim the new treasurer opens the same finance screens the last one used, with the squad P&L, invoices and arrears already there. Read about squad finance.

Common questions

What should a new swimming club treasurer do first? Get added to the bank mandate, get your own access to online banking and fee collection, and sit down with the outgoing treasurer to go through arrears, contracts and the reasoning behind the fee structure.

How long does a treasurer handover take? The conversation can be done in an evening with a checklist. Bank mandate changes often take several weeks, so start those first.

Should the outgoing treasurer keep access for a while? Only briefly, and only if the committee agrees. Remove it once the handover is complete.

Written by Joel Knight, swimming coach and founder of Olympus Swim (about).