1. Finance Training Picture?

2. What’s New for This Year? Picture? Planning Form Budget Form Standards

3. Introducing the ‘Kickass Guarantee’ Aim To guarantee that societies provide a minimum level of organised activities for their members. Why? So students who pay a membership fee are guaranteed to receive what they are entitled to expect from a society.

4. ‘Kickass Guarantee’ Spend at least 50% of your first term’s membership income during Term 1 & 2 Hold at least two events during Terms 1 & 2 Raise a total of £50 over the year, either for your society or charity or both Have an active social media platform to advertise events and allow members to interact Hold one General Meeting per term which all members can attend Attend all Societies Guild General Meetings Submit all paperwork on time Hold online elections

5. Affect on Standards All societies will need to meet the requirements of the ‘Kickass Guarantee’. We have therefore introduced some new criteria for achieving the standards.

6. Minimum Spending You will no longer be required to be self- funded in order to reach the Gold Standard. Instead, you will have to spend a certain percentage of your Term 1 Membership income on your members by the end of the second term.

7. Standard% of the First Term Membership spent Gold100% Silver90% Bronze80%

8. Fundraising You can choose to fundraise for your Society, for charity or a mixture of both This includes sponsorships and the Essex Fund

9. StandardAmount Raised Gold£500 Silver£250 Bronze£125

10. What is the Treasurers’ Role? Picture? You have primary responsibility, together with your president, for all your society’s finances You are responsible for paying in money received through events and fundraising, and for authorising all expenses. You must attend Executive Committee meetings and Society General Meetings, and present a detailed summary of the society's accounts at the Society’s Annual General Meeting You must attend Societies Guild General Meetings, together with any training which the Guild requires.

11. What’s in Your Account? Picture? Union Fund Club Fund

12. Society’s Union Fund Picture? What gets paid into your Union Fund? Members’ joining fees Allocations from the Societies Guild fund What gets paid out of your Union Fund? Money you have budgeted to spend (and is approved!!) At the end of the year, everything in the Union Fund “rolls into” next year’s Club Fund, less any allocations, which must be returned if not used

13. Society’s Club Fund Picture? What gets paid into your Club Fund? Any money from the previous year’s Union Fund Any money you raise for your society during the year from events, sales etc. What gets paid out of your Club Fund? Any money you choose to spend, so long as what you spend it on  benefits all members  is not alcohol  is not illegal

14. Budget Form Picture? Each society must submit a budget using the required form, and this must be approved by the Guild If you want to spend more than you will receive in memberships, you may receive a grant or be asked to subsidise the cost from your Club Fund, or both Anything paid out of your Union Fund must be included in your budget, and have been approved If you wish to change your plans part way during the year, you must complete a supplementary budget form, otherwise you cannot use your Union Fund Deadline – Monday 29 th June 2015 – socguild@essex.ac.uk

15. Weekly Reports (1) Picture? Treasurers and Presidents receive weekly automated reports stating the current balance and transaction history of their society’s account. You should check through it carefully to keep track of expenses, and spot any errors.

16. Picture? 1 2 3 4

17. Weekly Report (2) Picture? 1)Last year’s Union Fund PLUS last year’s Club Fund LESS any unspent allocation EQUALS your opening balance 2)Membership payments into your Union Fund (£5 or £2.50 less 20% for VAT, so £4.17 or £1.66, per member) 3)Allocations granted by the Guild for budgeted costs that your Union Fund can’t cover – must be repaid if not used 4)Club Fund income includes money from fundraising and profits from events. Outgoings include unbudgeted expenses, and expenses paid in order to fundraise

18. Claiming Expenses Picture? Normally, members pay for items upfront, then claim back expenses – however, we can pay larger amounts upon invoice, or purchase items on your behalf. Expenses forms must be completed by the person claiming the money, and signed by the Treasurer. If Treasurers are claiming expenses themselves, then the form must be signed by the President. http://www.essexstudent.com/pageassets/newsocguild/help/How-to-fill-an- expenses-claim-form.pdf

19. Value Added Tax Societies must pay VAT at a rate of 20% on any income they receive. For example: Membership costs £5.00 - you get £4.16 and HMRC gets 84p Event ticket costs £15.00 – you get £12.50 and HRMC gets £2.50 Cake sale raises £50.00 – you get £41.67 and HRMC gets £8.33 You can claim back any VAT you pay when you buy goods or pay for travel but only if you ask for a VAT receipt when you pay. Even shops like Tesco are happy to do this, but you must ask. It is very important to allow for VAT when calculating your income versus costs, or you may make a loss. *To calculate the VAT just divide by 1.2 *

20. External Speakers Picture? Societies cannot pay fees to external speakers. You can however pay their travel costs, the cost of a meal (excluding alcohol) and the cost of printing any materials. If a member collects a speaker by car, petrol costs may be refunded at a rate of 25p per mile.

21. Sponsorship Societies are allowed to seek sponsorships from external organisations, so long as: the sponsor is not a direct competitor of the Students’ Union (e.g. Nando’s) the contract is approved by the Societies Team and signed by the Finance Director of the Students’ Union. SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES ARE NOT PERMITTED TO SIGN ANY FORM OF CONTRACT, EITHER ON BEHALF OF THEIR SOCIETY OR ON BEHALF OF THE STUDENTS’ UNION.

22. Important All income and expenses MUST go through your society’s official bank account – NEVER offset expenses against income and pay in the difference. It is ILLEGAL for a society to open a separate bank account, or for any member to pay society money into their own account. If your society raises any money for charity you should deduct your expenses, then pay the remainder into the RAG account, who will then pay it to the charity. This is because the SU is a registered charity, and so cannot make payments to other charities.

23. HELP (1) http://www.essexstudent.com/ activities/societies/help/

24. HELP (2) Societies Guild Conveners ActivitiesNicole Tangtytang@essex.ac.uk ArtsPerry Jamespaejam@essex.ac.uk CulturalSaffy Roselan Joharsarose@essex.ac.uk DepartmentalRosie Redstonerredst@essex.ac.uk MusicalTheodoros Lambroutlambr@essex.ac.uk PoliticalKai Limyklim@essex.ac.uk ReligiousTosin Oshodiooosho@essex.ac.uk

25. HELP (3) Societies Guild Officers TreasurerAmanda Murrayamurrac@essex.ac.uk SecretaryRosie Redstonerredst@essex.ac.uk EventsKelly-Marie Holdenkholde@essex.ac.uk Charity & FundraisingPoppy Nevin Adleypnevin@essex.ac.uk Community & VolunteeringNicolae Radulescunradul@essex.ac.uk

26. HELP (4) Ali Awil – vpactivities@essex.ac.ukvpactivities@essex.ac.uk Societies Team –socguild@essex.ac.uksocguild@essex.ac.uk

27. Any Questions? Ask now Complete an enquiry form – at the front of the room – post into Societies Guild enquiry box in LTB foyer Email us