The Cycling Club Treasurer's Guide: Budget, Books and Reserves
How to build a cycling club budget, keep the books month by month and set a reserve, with a worked 120-member club, a cashflow chart and a year-end checklist.
It's January. The renewals have landed, the bank app says 8,117 €, and someone on the committee suggests new club jerseys "while we're flush". About 3,840 € of that belongs to the federation and leaves on the 10th of next month. By March, after the kit deposit, the club is below its own reserve target.
Build the budget from last year's actuals plus the changes you know, count only income you're sure of, add a contingency and a planned surplus for the reserve, then keep a cashbook you reconcile every month, with licence money in its own column. A cycling club budget is the committee's plan of the year's income and spending, agreed before the year starts. The treasurer keeps the books that show how reality compared, and watches the cash in between. Below, a worked 120-member club. The role itself is in cycling club committee roles.
Budget, cashflow and accounts: three documents, three questions
AssoConnect's budget guide repeats the saying: "On entend souvent que le budget prévoit et que la comptabilité constate" (the budget forecasts, the accounts record). The cashflow forecast adds when.
| Document | Question it answers | When | Usually approved by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | What do we plan to earn and spend? | Before the year starts | Committee, with members voting the fee |
| Cashflow forecast | Is there enough in the bank every month? | With the budget, updated monthly | Treasurer, shown to the committee |
| Accounts | What came in, went out, and what do we own? | After the year closes | Checked by an honorary auditor or examiner, approved by the members |
Small clubs usually keep a receipts-and-payments cashbook: every euro or pound in or out, on the day it moves. Accruals accounting (comptabilité d'engagement) puts income and costs in the year they belong to. Which one you need is set by your constitution, a funder or the law. In France, the 1901 law "ne prévoit pas, pour les associations simplement déclarées, d'obligations comptables" (Associathèque, 14 April 2026), but statuts, agrément and grant givers add duties. Unsure? Ask an accountant (UK), expert-comptable (FR), gestor or asesor (ES) or commercialista (IT).
Building the budget in five steps
- Start from last year's actuals, not last year's budget. The budget was a guess; the cashbook is what happened.
- Add the changes you already know. New federation rates (FFVélo's 2026 club dossier sets club re-affiliation at 61 €), room hire, the bank's tariff.
- Add the projects the committee agreed, and only those. Each line gets an owner who will spend it.
- Count only income you're sure of. The CDOS Drôme fiche on the budget prévisionnel says "ne jamais déterminer les ressources en fonction des dépenses, mais en fonction d'une réalité économique" (CDOS Drôme, 2021): never set income to match spending. A grant goes in once confirmed in writing.
- Add a contingency and a planned surplus. We use 5 % of spending as contingency. The surplus feeds the reserve, and it's planned, not hoped for.
Set the membership fee last. It's an output: spending, plus contingency, plus the reserve top-up, minus the income you're sure of, divided by members. Fees are one reason people give for leaving, so read why members leave cycling clubs before deciding how much of the gap the fee carries.
A worked budget for a 120-member club
The example club has 110 adults over 25 and 10 under-18s, is affiliated to FFVélo, runs one summer event with 300 entries, does one kit order and keeps calendar-year books.
| Line | € | How it's built |
|---|---|---|
| Income | ||
| Subscriptions, club share | 3,450 | 110 adults × 30 + 10 juniors × 15 |
| Club event entries | 3,600 | 300 entries × 12 |
| Kit sales to members | 2,000 | Sold at cost |
| Sponsorship | 400 | One local bike shop |
| Council grant | 0 | 500 applied for; budgeted only once confirmed |
| Total income | 9,450 | |
| Spending | ||
| Federation club re-affiliation | 61 | FFVélo 2026, incl. magazine |
| Trial-ride cover for newcomers (option A) | 45 | FFVélo 2026, "Futurs licenciés" option: three trial rides within 45 days per newcomer |
| Club event costs | 2,600 | Permit, signage, food, first-aid cover |
| Kit order | 2,000 | Matches kit sales |
| Ride-leader and first-aid training | 600 | Two courses |
| First-aid kits, lights, signage | 250 | |
| Website, email, software | 300 | |
| Bank and payment fees | 180 | |
| Meeting-room hire | 300 | AGM and two committee evenings |
| AGM and awards night | 700 | |
| Beginner and junior rides | 400 | See the club ride playbook |
| Volunteer expenses | 400 | Against receipts |
| Total spending | 7,836 | |
| Contingency (5 %) | 392 | Spent only on a committee decision |
| Planned surplus to reserve | 1,222 | 9,450 − 7,836 − 392 |
| Held for the federation, not club income | 6,405 | 110 × 57 + 10 × 13.50, forwarded to FFVélo |
- The event earns its keep, just. 3,600 in, 2,600 out leaves 1,000 €, and one wet Sunday wipes it out. The club cyclocross race guide works an event break-even line by line, as does the club sportive guide.
- Kit is zero on purpose. Any jersey subsidy is a separate, visible line.
- The member pays 87 €, the club keeps 30 €. The other 57 € is the FFVélo 2026 adult licence with Petit Braquet insurance (30.50 € federal cotisation plus 26.50 € insurance). Show members the split; price each licence category separately.
- The awards night is the line members notice. Cycling club awards has ways to run it without the club paying for everyone's dinner.
Money that isn't yours: licences, kit and entries
In the worked club, 15,855 € crosses the bank account in a year and 6,405 € of it, 40 %, is licence money the club only collects and forwards.
The timing is in the federation's dossier. FFVélo collects by "prélèvements bancaires automatiques le 10 de chaque mois suivant l'enregistrement de vos licences", a direct debit on the 10th of the month after licences are registered. During renewals, 2026 cover is kept "jusqu'à la fin du mois de février 2027" if the 2027 licence is renewed before 1 March. So the renewal peak runs December to February, and so does the inflated balance.
Kit pre-orders, event entries and trip deposits are held money too. Give them a "held for others" column in the cashbook, or a free sub-account, and report two numbers at every committee meeting: club money and held for others. If your club collects any federation or national membership on members' behalf, keep it off the income line.
How much to keep in reserve
The Charity Commission's reserves guidance for charities is honest about the hard part: "There is no single level, or even a range of, reserves that is right for all charities" (CC19, section 3.4, updated 16 September 2026). At the other end, British Dodgeball's treasurer webinar, run under Sport England's Club Matters banner, recommends "aiming for at least one year's reserves in the bank" (British Dodgeball, March 2023).
Our house rule sits between: reserve target = six months of fixed running costs + the largest cost you commit before its income is certain. A members' club can raise its subs within a year. It can't un-pay an event deposit when the event is rained off or the permit refused.
| Rule | Worked out | Target (€) |
|---|---|---|
| Three months of spending | 7,836 ÷ 4 | 1,959 |
| Our house rule | Half of 3,236 fixed costs (1,618) + event costs committed before entries are certain (2,600) | 4,218 |
| One year of spending (British Dodgeball) | 7,836 | 7,836 |
Fixed running costs are total spending minus the event and the kit, which pay for themselves: 7,836 − 2,600 − 2,000 = 3,236 € a year, about 270 € a month.
Above the target, spend the excess on something members can name. British Dodgeball suggests you "'Give this back' to existing members" or "invest in growth". Our rule: a named, costed project voted at the AGM, such as loan bikes or fully paid ride-leader courses. Many constitutions bar private benefit; Cycling UK's sample says funds "cannot be used for the direct or indirect private benefit of members" (sample constitution, March 2026, clause 17). Club-wide projects pass that test; cash handed back to individuals may not.
Month by month: the cashflow chart
The budget says the year ends in surplus. The cashflow says whether you can pay every bill on the way. Starting balance: 2,500 € of club money. Assumptions: renewals 60 % in January, 30 % in February, the rest by June; licence money forwarded the month after; 1,000 € kit deposit in March and the balance in May, when members pay; event entries 40 % in May, 60 % in June, costs split across both; awards night in December; sponsor in April; other lines in the month they're paid.
| Month | Club money at month end (€) |
|---|---|
| Jan | 4274 |
| Feb | 5194 |
| Mar | 3742 |
| Apr | 4006 |
| May | 5174 |
| Jun | 5629 |
| Jul | 5589 |
| Aug | 5549 |
| Sep | 5309 |
| Oct | 4969 |
| Nov | 4854 |
| Dec | 4114 |
- January looks 3,843 € richer than it is. The bank shows 8,117 €; club money is 4,274 €.
- March and April dip below the reserve target, to 3,742 € and 4,006 €: the kit deposit has gone, the kit money hasn't come.
- Moving the deposit to April only moves the dip. March recovers to 4,742 €, but April still ends at 4,006 €, below target.
- Collecting kit money with the order fixes it. Take members' 2,000 € in March and every month from January to November stays above target.
- The year ends at 4,114 €, up 1,614 €: the 1,222 € planned surplus plus the unused 392 € contingency. Still 104 € short of target, which next year's surplus closes.
A renewal deadline at the end of February, when FFVélo's carried-over cover stops, also pulls late money forward. If your year runs from 1 April, as Cycling UK groups' does, start the chart in April. Draw yours with twelve columns, one row per budget line and the reserve target as a line you don't cross.
Keeping the books: the treasurer's monthly hour
A cashbook needs the same columns every month: date, description, receipt or invoice number, budget line, money in, money out, held for others, running balance, and a reconciled tick. Then four habits:
- One receipt per line. Expense claims come with the receipt, or they wait.
- Two people approve every payment. British Dodgeball says to "require at least two signatories when making payments". Your constitution may also set a spending limit; the constitution guide covers both clauses.
- Club money never sits in your personal account. Don't pay a club bill on your card and net it off against cash subs. Reimburse yourself against a receipt.
- Reconcile monthly. The same deck: "Check your club bank accounts at the end of each and every month". Tick each line against the statement, then give the committee one line: club money, held for others, spending against budget.
Year-end checklist and the AGM papers
- Close and reconcile the cashbook to the final bank statement.
- Check "held for others" is zero, or list what's still owed to the federation, supplier or members.
- List unpaid bills and money received in advance, such as next year's entries.
- Update the asset list: gazebos, first-aid kits, radios, loan bikes, trophies. The Cycling UK groups handbook (April 2026) puts "Prepare Annual Statement of Accounts incl. asset list" on the treasurer's card.
- Compare actuals with budget; one sentence per big gap, and one on the reserve: held, target, why.
- Send the books to whoever checks them.
- Prepare next year's budget and fee proposal in time for approval before the year starts, if your rules ask for that.
- Cycling UK member groups: annual financial returns "by the middle of May each year", for a 1 April to 31 March year (governance framework, April 2026).
- Check each grant letter for when its spending report is due.
- Stepping down? Hand over mandate, passwords and cashbook in one meeting, and get your name off the account.
Keep the report to one page. For the meeting and the vote, see how to run a cycling club AGM.
UK, France, Spain, Italy: who approves the accounts, and who to ask
Who approves what, and when tax applies, differs by country and legal form; the legal structures guide compares the forms.
| Country | What the text says | Who to ask |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Corporation Tax can apply to profits of a "club, co-operative or other unincorporated association, for example a community group or sports club" (GOV.UK). Members' subs are generally treated differently from trading with non-members (HMRC BIM24000, mutual trading, updated 4 August 2026). | An accountant, on non-member entries, sponsorship or interest; your federation for model rules |
| France | No accounting duty for simply declared associations; for agrément, statuts say the budget is adopted before the year starts and accounts go to the AG within six months (Associathèque, 18 August 2026; Code du sport R121-3). | FFVélo or FFC, your CDOS, an expert-comptable |
| Spain | "Las cuentas de la asociación se aprobarán anualmente por la Asamblea General" (LO 1/2002, art. 14.3). | Your federación autonómica (regional sport law applies) or the RFEC, a gestor or asesor |
| Italy | An ASD or SSD statute must include "l'obbligo di redazione di rendiconti economico-finanziari" and how they're approved (D.Lgs. 36/2021, art. 7); the statuto sets the deadline. | The FCI or your ente di promozione sportiva, a commercialista |
FAQ
Does a cycling club budget have to balance?
It has to add up, which isn't the same as breaking even. A planned surplus that feeds the reserve is a budget line, not a profit, and members should see it.
Can the treasurer be paid or claim expenses?
Reimbursing real expenses against receipts, approved by a second person, is normal. Paying a volunteer officer raises tax and constitutional questions that vary by country, so ask your federation or an accountant first.
In France, does a grant request need a budget prévisionnel?
The standard form, Cerfa n° 12156*06, has a section headed "5. Budget de l'association" and lets you value volunteer time as "contributions volontaires en nature" (accounts 86 and 87, such as 875 "Bénévolat"), so your ride leaders' hours can count. Download the current form from service-public.gouv.fr.
Do we need an auditor?
Only if your constitution, a funder or the law asks for one. Cycling UK's sample constitution provides an Honorary Auditor who "may not be a member of the Committee" (clause 16), and many French statuts provide for a vérificateur aux comptes. Ask your federation or an accountant what applies.
How we made this. We wrote this with AI help for research, drafting and translation. The worked budget, the 40 % pass-through share, the reserve targets and the cashflow chart are our own calculations with the inputs shown; every amount that isn't an FFVélo 2026 rate is an example. FFVélo rates and timings come from its 2026 club affiliation dossier, read on 21 October 2026, as were the other linked sources. General guidance only: check your constitution, your national federation and an accountant.
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