Your board doesn't need every report the accounting system can print. It needs a short package that looks the same every month. That package should answer four questions: is the club on budget, where isn't it and why, what's happening to membership, and are cash and capital plans on track? This guide lays out a club financial report template for the monthly board packet and fills it in for a fictional club.
The pages in the package
- Summary page: the month and year to date against budget and prior year, in a few lines, with three or four sentences of commentary.
- Operating statement by department: membership dues, then the net result of each operated department, then the undistributed costs of running the club. A USFRC-style departmental layout makes this easy to read. See the club departmental income statement guide.
- Membership report: members at the start of the month, joined, resigned, transferred between classes, and the closing count, by class.
- Cash and reserves: operating cash, the capital reserve balance, and member balances past 60 and 90 days.
- Capital projects: approved budget, spent to date and forecast to complete for each project.
- Variance commentary: a short explanation for each line outside the club's threshold, written by the manager responsible.
Fictional example: the summary page
Fictional example. Sample Club's month in summary:
| Sample Club (fictional) | Actual | Budget | Variance | Prior year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Membership dues | $612,000 | $610,000 | $2,000 | $598,000 |
| Food & beverage (net) | −$48,000 | −$40,000 | −$8,000 | −$51,000 |
| Golf operations (net) | −$95,000 | −$98,000 | $3,000 | −$92,000 |
| Other departments (net) | −$12,000 | −$10,000 | −$2,000 | −$11,000 |
| Clubhouse, admin and maintenance | −$390,000 | −$385,000 | −$5,000 | −$371,000 |
| Net operating result | $67,000 | $77,000 | −$10,000 | $73,000 |
The net operating result is $67,000 against a $77,000 budget, so it's $10,000 unfavorable. Dues are $2,000 ahead and golf is $3,000 better than budget. The shortfall comes from food and beverage ($8,000 behind) and clubhouse costs ($5,000 over). Your commentary should say which of those is timing, which is a one-off and which will repeat.
Write commentary the board can use
A useful variance comment answers three questions: what happened, why, and what management is doing about it. Fictional example: "F&B is $8,000 behind budget. Two member events moved to next month (about $5,000 of the gap, timing). The rest is lower à la carte covers; the dining committee will review the winter menu at its next meeting." Compare that with "F&B was under budget due to lower revenue." That tells the board nothing it can't see in the table.
The membership report
Sample Club opened the month with 702 members. Six joined and four resigned, so it closed at 704. Show this by class, with a rolling 12 months beside it. A month or two of resignations is noise. A 12-month trend is something the board can act on.
Keep capital separate
Put capital dues, assessments and reserve spending on their own page, not in the operating result. Mix them in and the operating result looks better than the real cost of running the club. The club capital assessment calculation guide covers how to build and present assessments.
Practical rules for the template
- Use the same pages, order and line names every month, so the board can follow trends.
- Round to the nearest hundred or thousand on the summary page.
- Show variance in dollars and percent, and label favorable and unfavorable the same way on every page.
- Set a variance threshold in advance, for example a dollar amount and a percent, and comment on every line that crosses it.
- Send the package early enough for the board to read it before the meeting.
The board package is a reporting aid. It does not replace the club's audited financial statements or the auditor's advice on accounting treatment.