For any organisation, managing your money is just as important as bringing in funding – whether you’re grant maintained, delivering contracts or trading. And if you can’t demonstrate that you’re following the basics of financial management and planning – budgets, accounts, tax, and reporting – you’re unlikely to be taken seriously by funders and lenders.

Many people find dealing with finance to be the most worrying part of running a voluntary and community organisation or social enterprise. This site should help you develop financial systems that are right for you and your organisation.

To help you quickly access the information you need, the resources have been listed under various topic headings under the managing money and resources section in the left hand menu.

Under each topic you will find Introductory Overviews covering a range of issues, a formatted pdf leaflet of the text which you can download and print and a resources section containing links to further resources on the topic.

Some topics will also offer links to relevant Case Studies and some of the more technical topics have Expert Guides.

Managing finances can be a daunting task and whether you’re new to the role or are an experienced practitioner, there are many different aspects of financial reporting to consider. A good place to start in identifying what you may need is by using our Guide to Financial Management (pdf, 620kb). This guide looks at why financial management is important and covers a range of topics, including developing a financial strategy, budgets and cash flow management, book keeping and financial accounting. It also looks at tax and at financial management and governance; it includes good practice advice, examples and templates for advisers and groups to use.

If you’re looking for more direct practical support, our key resources section of our Managing Money page contains information about agencies that may be able to help. These include:

Community accountancy website, Cash-online which provides financial advice and training for small charities and voluntary groups.

And Community Accountancy Network where you can search for your nearest community accountancy service. This site also has lots of practical help including a range of accountancy services tools.

Our Managing Money and resources section will also provide you with the various aspects of planning, developing and implementing your financial strategy and provides additional links and resources that may be useful to you.