Budgeting for special events

The budget for your special event must be

• Comprehensive,
• Flexible,
• Up-to-date, and
• Fully documented.

Accounting

• Even if doing your budget on computer or through a software program like Excel, keep records on paper of any significant authorisations.
• Make sure your filing system can keep track of receipts against cheques. The auditor should be able to backtrack over the entire series of transactions.
• And if you're taxed, make sure that you can identify any possible deductibles, and keep an eye on which financial year your expenditures and income fall into.

Handling money

• Money that's been collected needs to be guarded and recorded while it's in your possession before it goes to the bank.
• Make sure that your office procedures protect cash, accounts, and credit card details appropriately.

Banking

• Depending on the scale of the event you may need to open a special bank account dedicated to the income and expenditure from this source.
• Consider setting up a separate cheque account, at least, to isolate special event expenses, and using this account to make all deposits, payments, and reimbursements.

Expenditure and income

• Include the different categories of expenses and income in a table similar to the one below.
• Don't leave blanks; your best guess is better than a refusal to estimate.
• Include ALL income and expenditure items in the table. Review your list to ensure you don't leave any out and are left with some unpleasant surprises. A good idea may be to set up sub-budgets for each heading and take their totals into the summary budget.