Help centre / Money & accounts / Track money without accounting software
Track money without accounting software
Open the Finance page and choose Add our figures. Enter your bank balance and, if you have them, the year's income and spending. We work out your reserves and runway from what you type. Update the figures whenever you like, for example after each bank statement.
Enter your figures
- Open the Finance page.
- Choose Add our figures (or Update our figures if some are already there). Trustees and admins can do this.
- Enter the money in the bank, including any cash. This is the only box you must fill in.
- Set the date the balance is from ("As at").
- If you know your free reserves, enter them. Leave the box blank and we use your bank balance instead.
- If you have them, add the last 12 months' income and spending. The spending figure is what lets us work out your runway.
- Add a note if the board should know anything about these figures.
- Choose Save figures.
What you'll see
The Finance page shows the tiles boards ask about most: cash at bank, free reserves against your reserves policy, and runway (how many months your cash would last at your current spending). Everything is clearly labelled "Entered by you", with who updated it and when.
Your free reserves figure also feeds the rest of CharityControl, including the main dashboard and your Trustees' Annual Report draft. Any Impact measures set to track cash or reserves get this month's reading automatically.
Common questions
What counts as free reserves?
Money the charity could spend on anything, after taking out restricted funds and money already committed. If you're not sure, leave the box blank to start with your bank balance, and refine it later.
How often should we update this?
Whenever the figures change enough to matter. Once a month, after the bank statement, works well for most small charities.
What if we connect accounting software later?
Live figures take over and the hand-entry form closes. The history you built up is kept, and figures you typed in are never overwritten by the feed.