Managing a youth sports team treasury is an important but often underappreciated responsibility.  Often the position is filled with a volunteer who might not have accounting experience.  Although the basic responsibilities of a team treasurer are not very complicated, there are many unexpected pitfalls that can catch a new, unsuspecting treasurer off guard.  One of the biggest pitfalls occurs when the treasurer loses the trust of the team.  This can happen very easily.  My friend Jeff once said to me, “Every time I take my daughter to soccer practice they ask me for more money and I never know what it’s for!”  This can be the result of a simple misunderstanding with its roots in poor reporting or a lack of transparency.  Keeping meticulous records and providing clear, concise reports in a standardized format can help.

Record keeping is an obvious obligation of the team treasurer.  Often treasurers will use spreadsheet programs (i.e. MS Excel,) dedicated accounting software (i.e. Quickbooks,) or online software made specifically for managing the treasury of a youth sports team or club (i.e. www.TreasureEase.com) for record keeping.

Desktop software like Excel is certainly sufficient, but it does require the treasurer to create their own system.  Creating reports can be cumbersome, and the data is kept on the computer of the treasurer, making it a potential victim of a hard-drive crash.

Dedicated accounting software can easily handle the needs of the team treasurer. Built-in reporting makes it easy and convenient to generate paper reports.  However, this software can be costly, can require complicated setup, and like Excel, the data can be lost in a hard-drive crash.

TreasureEase.com makes it easy for the treasurer to maintain the treasury records and to send treasury reports.  Being created for this specific job, it requires very little setup and it includes many tools to make the job of the treasurer easy.  With the dashboard the treasurer can see what’s going on with the team’s finances at a glance.  Built-in reports can be printed or emailed very simply.  Keeping the players–or their parents–informed with clear concise reports is one way. TreasureEase helps the treasurer keep the trust of the team.