Finance Administration & Accounting

HR&S Country Branches’ finance administration and accounting (FAA) is the responsibility of the Branch accountant, team-leader and deputy team-leader together.

This include:

  • financial administration & accounting according to international standards,
  • annual programme & financial report 
  • independent auditing if the annual turn-over exceeds EUR 10,000
unsplash - accounting

Bank account procedures

EXPENDITURE PROCEDURE

The expenditure procedure will be as follows:

  1. The HR&S Branch Directors discuss and agree on the activities to be implemented and expenditure to be done subject to availability of funds;
  2. The Team Leader (TL) presents official request to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) via a filled Expense Request Form (ERF) with details of the activities and amount required;
  3. The CEO approved the expenditure by signing the ERF to authorize the expenditure. The signed ERF is sent back to the TL for execution;
  4. The TL forwards the signed ERF to the Branch Accountant (BA) and instructs him/her to withdraw the funds;
  5. The BA coordinates fellow bank account signatories to effect the withdrawal of the approved cash; and
  6. The cash is spent on the intended purpose.

Note: The BA keeps the ERF signed by CEO for future accountability purposes.

 

Bank account withdrawals

  • Withdrawal from the bank account requires authorisation by HR&S CEO and the signatures from all signatories, possibly as a signed meeting minutes.
  • The accountant provides a request to HR&S CEO when withdrawals are required.
    • The withdrawal request states the purpose for the withdrawal, which activity it refers to and which agreements it is supported by.
    • The request compiles all the costs it shall cover.
  • Within two months after the date of the withdrawal, receipts for all costs are compiled by the accountant and a copy shared with HR&S CEO and the signatories.

Targeting Branch running costs covered by ActionInvest directly.

F.ex. field travels, venue costs and light food, and internet services.

Targeting Branch running costs covered by Country branch profit

F.ex. Team member reimbursement, computers, and office space.

 

Targeting Branch member reimbursement

  • Personal activity reports are submitted together with the annual report no later than 31 January.
  • The activity reports are discussed in a RISEtalk in February and the Branch decides on how reimbursements are distributed between team members. Usually the team members have contributed equally and the reimbursement amount is shared equally.

Targeting RISEmember loans

  • The loan-taker provides a request to the Country Branch when withdrawals are required.

Bank account signatories

Three members of the HR&S Branches operations team are signatories of the bank account.

  • These are usually the team-leader and the deputy team-leader and the accountant.
  • They shall not be family or long-term friends.
  • Pre-arrangements with the bank shall make it possible for the signatories to provide their statements electronically.

Payments

  • Payments are made by the accountant and the receipts are compiled.
  • Payment shall be made in a manner so that it is shown on the bank account statement, possibly by a check.

 

Agreements

Tax

  • The Country Branch Team of Operations is up-dated with, and obey, to the tax laws of the country.
  • Tax is paid accordingly.
 

Action_Invest & RISE_talks

Substantiality

It is important that the RISE members has balance in their businesses. The ActionInvest capital shall not decrease as a result of members failing to pay back. As donations are collected, the capital on the Branch bank account shall always mirror the amount collected. 

Accountability procedures

  1. Team-building and joint financial responsibility for the ActionInvest capital among RISE members, combined with accounting training and auditing with management reports.
  2. RISE member direct coaching and training of RISE members customers.
  3. Signing agreements with employers that loan and interest is withdrawn directly form the salary.

10 % of funds transferred can be used to cover running costs as well as as financial reward to active Branch team members
Team members requesting a financial reimbursement  shall present a written activity report due 31 January. In a RISEtalk due 15 February the Branch Team Members present their individual activity report and the Branch shares the reward funds as they find is right. HR&S approved the distribution prior to it being transferred to private accounts.
 Reason being that as it is demanding to get the ActionInvest to generate local income due to the level of corruption, our team needs another support to be able to operate. Previously we gave a reward to all team members, that did not work as many joined to get the reward but without contributing.

Annual reports

Each Branch delivers their annual report due 15 February.

The annual report are designed according to the the Branches preferences but shall contain the following chapters.

  1. Message from the Team-leader.
  2. Financial report.
  3. Management report.
  4. Compilation of the RISE members and their businesses.
  5. Compilation of services and products delivered to under-served groups.
  6. Compilation of Management Strategy for Change training and coaching.
  7. The year ahead,
    financially and concerning the programme.

During the May ActionTalks Country Branches make narrative oral presentation of their annual reports.

Financial annual report 

The third Saturday of the month March, Action10 runs their General Assembly. During the meeting the Action10 board presents to our supporters (financial supporters and volunteer staff) how investments have been managed during the previous year. It is very important to give the clear picture of how finances were used. Thus the numbers in the finacial reports provided by the Branches have to  add up and match with the presentation of the programme. The board will in the General Assembly refer to the Action10 Annual financial reports, https://www.action10.org/action10-reports and it is important the Branches also refers to these reports in their financial reports. Thus the financial reports shall always cover the full time period from the first transfer by Action10. The reports by Action10 are presented in Swedish currency SEK and we use the oanda currency converter https://www.oanda.com/currency-converter/en, thus the exchange rate at the time of the transfer. The money was usually transferred with a certain project in mind, but then were not always fully used for that project, which was good, as it was an estimation by the Country team. So even if a project is mentioned in the annual report, please compile all transfer as s transfer to the country Branch Kenya. Unless the country branch is able to convince our supporters (financial supporters and volunteer staff) during the General Assembly, it will be difficult to argue for a continuous support. 

Accountability management for RISE_members

Ensuring Accountability Among RISE Members

The “help-me” narrative must change. The RISE members must realise that this is an equal-partnership, win-win relation. That the partners shall support each other for the sake of establishing social good and move the country out of poverty as well as eradicate extreme poverty. The bottom line is setting the expectations right from the beginning to avoid unrealistic expectations. The RISE members shall not be looking for handouts, as this is not sustainable, but should create value for them-selves AND their partners, and thereby bring the desired prosperity. RISE-member partners are the local branches, HR&S Sweden and Action10. Important also is to identify the right RISE membes, who will act with agency for change and intrinsic motivation, who will become role-models.

Activity: Each Centre has a certain amount of capital to pay out as loans. Within the Centre the RISE members are made aware of the size of this capital how the capital is distributed between them. The Centre shall create a good and supportive atmosphere where the RISE members support each other to manage their business, generate profit and pay back in time and with interest,  by giving advice and provide supportive actions. Full transparency is created among the RISE members on how loans are paid back.  If someone is not paying back, less will be available for the other RISE members, for the coming batch of loans. What we are targeting is the motivation to pay back, so that the loan-taker her-self and the other RISE members can benefit as much as possible, but also a sense of responsibility for the well-being of the local branch AND for HR&S Sweden.   In case there is an external challenge, maybe drought for a farmer, then everyone will have to accept decreased capital, even though everyone will suffer from less capital.
Milestones:  In RISE Centre meetings the members are made to realized that the money to be giving to them is a loan to be paid back, and that the amount given out as loan will be deducted from the principal amount at source.  They are made to understand also that they will cross reference each other in the group, that is to say that if any member of the group default in repayment, the entire group will be held accountable.  If they are faithful in repayment, they will be qualified for applying for a higher loan. They usually repay the principal on a monthly basis.  The members are made aware that the purpose is for their businesses to expand and for more RISE members to be added to the community and thereby strengthening the team.

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