Charity Treasurer Role: Responsibilities, Skills, and How to Appoint One

The charity treasurer is not the person who owns the charity's finances. That responsibility belongs to all trustees equally under the Charities Act 2011 — every trustee is collectively accountable for the charity's financial health, not just the one who holds the treasurer title. What the treasurer role actually provides is a dedicated trustee who takes the lead on financial oversight, freeing the rest of the board from needing specialist knowledge while ensuring financial matters are properly reported at each meeting.

Understanding that distinction matters when you are recruiting, appointing, or evaluating the role. A treasurer without trustee authority is just a bookkeeper. A trustee board that delegates financial responsibility entirely to the treasurer has misunderstood the law.

What trustees and the treasurer are both responsible for

The Charity Commission's CC3 guidance on the essential trustee makes clear that financial duties apply to all trustees, not just the treasurer:

• Ensuring the charity's money is spent only to advance its charitable purposes
• Making sure the charity does not spend more than it receives over time (avoiding insolvency)
• Protecting the charity's assets and ensuring they are used appropriately
• Approving the annual accounts before they are filed with the Charity Commission

The treasurer takes the lead on these duties — preparing the analysis, presenting the numbers, flagging concerns — but the full board makes the decisions.

What the treasurer does day to day

In a small charity, the treasurer's practical tasks typically include:

Overseeing financial records. The treasurer makes sure that income and expenditure are recorded accurately, whether through a spreadsheet, accounting software, or a bookkeeper. They are not necessarily doing the data entry themselves, but they should know the records are up to date.

Preparing management accounts for trustees. At each board meeting, the treasurer presents a summary of income against budget, expenditure against budget, and current cash position. The format can be simple — a one-page table — but it should give trustees enough information to make decisions.

Managing cash flow. Small charities can run into difficulty not because they are insolvent overall, but because income arrives late and expenses are due now. The treasurer monitors the bank balance and flags when reserves are running low.

Coordinating the annual accounts. For charities with income over £25,000, the annual accounts must be prepared and independently examined before being filed with the Charity Commission. The treasurer coordinates this process — gathering records, working with the independent examiner, and presenting the final accounts to trustees for approval. For the accounts thresholds and what you need to submit, see the Charity Commission's guidance on preparing a charity annual return.

Managing Gift Aid claims. If the charity is registered for Gift Aid, the treasurer often takes responsibility for submitting claims to HMRC and ensuring declarations are held correctly. See our guide on how to claim Gift Aid for your charity.

Tracking restricted funds. Grants and donations are sometimes restricted to specific purposes. The treasurer ensures these are tracked separately and that restricted money is not spent on general costs.

Skills a charity treasurer needs

You do not need to appoint a qualified accountant. Many effective charity treasurers are non-professionals with financial literacy rather than formal qualifications. The practical skills that matter most are:

Ability to read and prepare accounts. The treasurer needs to understand a balance sheet, an income and expenditure statement, and the difference between restricted and unrestricted funds. This can be learned — NCVO, the Charity Commission, and CABA all offer free treasurer training.

Attention to detail. Financial oversight means catching discrepancies before they become problems. The treasurer needs to check figures, follow up on unexplained variances, and read supplier statements.

Communication. The treasurer's main audience is not an accountant — it is fellow trustees who may have no financial background. The ability to explain the charity's financial position in plain language is as important as being able to prepare it.

Availability at reporting times. Annual accounts, Gift Aid claims, and management accounts all have deadlines. The treasurer needs to be available and responsive around these dates — usually the month after the financial year end.

What a charity treasurer is not responsible for

The treasurer does not personally guarantee the charity's finances. Trustees are not personally liable for a charity's debts as long as they have acted with reasonable care and in good faith. The treasurer's legal position is the same as any other trustee — the role does not create additional personal financial liability.

The treasurer is also not responsible for keeping the charity financially safe single-handedly. If the treasurer raises a concern at a board meeting and trustees vote to proceed anyway, the treasurer has fulfilled their duty by raising it. The board's collective decision is the board's collective responsibility.

How to appoint a charity treasurer

Most small charities do not have a formal recruitment process for the treasurer. The role is usually filled when a trustee with relevant experience is willing to take it on, or when a new trustee joins specifically to fill a financial skills gap.

When a trustee takes on the treasurer role, the governing document usually requires a formal vote at a trustees' meeting. Check your constitution for the specific procedure — some documents require a majority vote; others require all trustees to agree. The appointment should be minuted. For guidance on trustee meeting records, see our guide on trustee meeting best practices.

If no current trustee is suitable, you will need to recruit a new trustee with financial skills. See our guide to recruiting charity trustees for the practical steps. Reach Volunteering, NCVO's trustee recruitment resources, and your local CVS are all useful starting points.

Induction for a new treasurer

A new treasurer should receive at a minimum:

• Access to the last two years of accounts and bank statements
• A copy of the charity's financial controls policy
• An introduction to whoever carries out bookkeeping or data entry
• Access to the charity's online banking (with appropriate authorisation controls — the treasurer should not be the sole signatory)
• A briefing on any restricted funds currently held
• Introduction to the independent examiner or auditor

The Charity Commission's CC3 guidance includes a section on the specific trustee roles of chair and treasurer — worth reading during induction.

What happens when the treasurer leaves

If the treasurer leaves mid-year, the remaining trustees are collectively responsible for the financial duties until a replacement is found. This is a genuine risk for small charities — financial oversight can go unmanaged for months during a trustee vacancy.

To reduce this risk, it helps to have a deputy or to ensure at least one other trustee understands the financial processes well enough to cover in an emergency. Shared access to accounting software and the bank reduces the risk of the role being a single point of failure.

Our free Compliance Checklist Generator includes financial controls and treasurer responsibilities within the governance section.

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This guide covers charity law in England and Wales. The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator have separate regimes. This is information, not legal or financial advice.

Sources

• Charity Commission CC3: The essential trustee — what you need to know, what you need to do
• GOV.UK: Charity trustee — what's involved
• GOV.UK: Prepare a charity annual return