Squad finance: knowing which squad loses money

Squad finance means knowing, squad by squad, whether the fees coming in cover the pool hire and coaching going out. Most swimming clubs only know the club-wide figure, and find out that a squad has been running at a loss when the year-end accounts arrive. Olympus Swim works the figure out live, from the fees, pool bookings and coach hours already in the system.

Why the club-wide figure hides the problem

A club can break even overall while one squad quietly loses money every month and another covers for it. Squads differ in almost everything that drives cost: how many hours they train, whether they need 50-metre water, how many coaches stand on the side, how many swimmers share each lane.

Here is an illustrative example with made-up figures. A development squad of 30 swimmers pays fees that bring in more than its two hours of shared lane hire and one coach. A performance squad of 14 trains far more hours in long-course water with two coaches. The club-wide account looks fine. The performance squad is being funded by the younger swimmers' parents, and nobody has decided that on purpose.

That might be the right choice for the club. The point is that it should be a choice, made on evidence, not something discovered after the AGM.

How a squad P&L is built

A squad profit and loss needs four things, all of which a club already has somewhere:

1. Income: the swimmers in the squad and the fee each pays, as invoiced.
2. Pool cost: the lane hours each squad uses at each venue, multiplied by that venue's hire rate.
3. Coach cost: the hours each coach is assigned to the squad, at their rate, with the cost split fairly when one coach runs several squads at once.
4. The result: net position, margin, and how many swimmers the squad needs to break even.

In Olympus Swim these come from records the club keeps anyway: the squad list, the invoices, the pool venues and hire rates, and the coach rota and hours. Nobody maintains a separate spreadsheet. Change a fee, add a lane or move a coach, and the figures move with it.

The spreadsheet problem: key-person risk

Some clubs already build a squad-level model, usually because a committee member works in finance. It is a good model, and it is a snapshot maintained by one or two named people. When they step down, the model leaves with them.

A live squad P&L inside the club's own system is institutional. The next treasurer opens the same screen the last one used. That continuity matters more than any single figure on it. See the treasurer handover checklist.

Fees, invoices and Direct Debit

Set fee structures by squad, raise a month of invoices in one action, and collect them by Direct Debit. For every family on a mandate, the payment settles against the invoice automatically, so nobody matches bank transfers to names by hand. Overdue balances are visible on the finance dashboard instead of in a notebook. Families who will not take a mandate can still pay another way, and the payment is recorded against their account.

Read more: collecting club fees by Direct Debit and how to set squad fees.

Who sees what

Finance access follows the role. The treasurer and chair see the full ledger. The head coach sees the squad P&L, and the screen says plainly that payroll and club overheads stay with the treasurer and chair. A coach can understand what their squad costs without seeing what colleagues are paid.

Taking it into the AGM

A committee asked to defend a fee increase, a squad restructure or a new coaching appointment can show the figures behind the decision, squad by squad. That is a different conversation from "costs have gone up". Read how to explain a fee increase at your AGM.

None of this replaces the club's accountant or its statutory accounts. It is the operational view a committee needs during the season, so the year-end accounts hold no surprises.

Common questions

What is a squad P&L? A squad profit and loss shows each squad's fee income against the pool hire and coaching that squad uses, so the committee can see which squads cover their costs and which need a closer look.

Can the head coach see the club's finances? The head coach sees the squad P&L only. The full ledger, payroll and club overheads stay with the treasurer and chair.

Where does the pool cost come from? From the venues the club records, each with its lane count and hire rate, matched to the sessions each squad trains.

What about families who pay by bank transfer? Their payments can be recorded against their account. Families on a Direct Debit mandate need no manual matching at all.

Does this replace our accountant? No. It gives the committee a live operational view during the season. Statutory accounts stay with your accountant or independent examiner.