Let’s get you going with your new money management system!
Peruse this page for answers to FAQ about the Treasurer’s Finance Manager as well as set up information to make the entire process quick and painless.
Click on the topic and you’ll jump right to that point of the guide.
Help Topics Covered:
- Set Up Video
- I added an additional category and now the program isn’t working
- I need more than 50 income / expense categories
- How to create subcategories (with caution)
- Using the same name for both an income and an expense category
- Adding the starting bank balance?
- Adjusting the fiscal year for January 1 -December 30 or July 1- June 30 start date
- Using the Program in Excel (Don’t do this!)
- Customizing the Budget Tracker
- Transaction Register
- Reports
- End of the Year Procedures
- Using Google Sheets
- License Information
Set Up Guidance
Watch this video to learn how to set up the Treasurer’s Finance Manager:
I added an additional category and now the program isn’t working OR I need additional categories
The system is only set up for 50 expense and 50 income categories, so any additional categories will not get pulled into the Transaction Register, Budget Tracker or any of the reports.
The system is designed for similar expenses to be grouped as categories.
For example instead of listing out stamps, envelopes and checks as three separate things, group all under the one category of Treasurer Supplies or Office Supplies.
If you find that you’re running out of categories, look to see what can be grouped together.
You can add the detail of what the combined category includes in the Budget Notes section to lessen confusion and increase transparency simultaneously.
Information added to the Notes section for the category will transfer over to the Activity Report.
How do I create subcategories?
Creating subcategories in the program is easy (but discouraged)!
Just name the related subcategories similarly. For example, Fundraising-Concessions, Fundraising- Spirit Sticks, Fundraising- Fun Run, etc.
When the subcategories are added during the setup phase, list them alphabetically and they’ll show up in that order throughout the program.
Pro tip: Use sub-categories sparingly.
Your group is creating more work for the Treasurer and the entire organization when things are broken down so specifically.
Compare the ease of one overall “Fall Fest Expenses” category to several subcategories “Fall Fest- Balloons”, “Fall Fest – Security”, “Fall Fest- Prizes”, “Fall Fest – Beverages”, “Fall Fest- Snacks.”
First, it’ll take longer to find the appropriate category in the register (more work for the Treasurer and boosts the likelihood of mistakenly choosing the wrong category).
Second, your group will need to vote on a budget overage if the Fall Fest balloons budgeted for $200 actually cost $300 (more work for your group and more business to handle in meetings, lengthening the time of the meetings).
Third, the budget is actually harder to read and understand since you’ll need to wade through more categories and do separate math to determine the total Fall Fest expenses when broken down versus just one category.
Fourth, the Fall Fest Coordinator probably cares what the individual components of the event cost, but the entire group doesn’t.
One all encompassing Fall Fest expense category will do.
If you really want to specify how much is going to what part, delineate that information in the notes section.
It’ll make for a cleaner budget, easier to read without a heavier load of work for the Treasurer or group as a whole.
In this example, the main category name (Concessions) was used at the end of the name.
The subcategory names weren’t entered alphabetically, so they appear out of order in the budget.
Having full control of how the categories (or subcategories) appear in the budget means you can also have them listed as the fundraisers happen chronologically throughout the year.
Use whatever naming convention and order listing that works best for you.
Can I use the same name for both an income and an expense category?
No. They system isn’t set up to handle matching names.
Instead of just using “Concessions” as a category, use “Concessions Income” and “Concessions Expenses” or some name variation that makes sense to you.
Where do I add the starting bank balance?
Head to the Register and look for the yellow boxes at the top.
Add the date of the beginning balance in the left box and then the starting balance amount in the box on the right.
How do I adjust the fiscal year for a July 1- June 30 period?
Add the year on the set up page and you’re good to go!
The Treasurer’s Finance Manager is designed to have a fresh copy used each year, so you don’t really have to do anything to adjust for a July fiscal year start.
When you add the year on the set up page, it populates other fields, but when you run the reports, it will only pull up what you’ve put in year to date.
Using the Treasurer’s Finance Manager in Excel (Don’t do this!)
The current version of the Treasurer’s Finance Manager is only available in a Google Sheets format.
Some of the key programmed cells will break if the Sheets version is opened and converted into a Excel spreadsheet.
This is because Excel and Sheets don’t translate 100%. So this means that unfortunately, you cannot use the program in Excel.
Customizing the Budget Tracker
Can I turn off the Budget rounding?
Yes! Highlight the column > Format > Number > Currency Rounded
I don’t need all the categories. Can I hide the unused categories?
Yes! You can hide the unused categories for a cleaner presentation of the Budget.
On the Budget Tracker page, hide the unused categories by clicking on the Row Numbers, then right click on “Hide Row”.
To reveal hidden rows, hover near the hidden row numbers with your pointer, right click and then choose the unhide menu option.
The Budget Tracker is adding expenses instead of subtracting them
Double check that all expenses have been entered as a negative with a minus sign (-) before the dollar amount.
How do I set up a Budget?
Give this video a watch for the walkthrough. Note that the video features a prior version of the Treasurer’s Finance Manager, but it works largely the same.
Comparing Previous Year’s Numbers
The program allows you to track up to two previous years, making it easy to see if your group is on track.
These columns are hidden by default, but it just takes a click to reveal them!
Click the plus sign in the header of the budget page, you’ll reveal two columns for previous year data.
After clicking the plus sign, two columns will reveal for you to manually add in comparison data.
Transaction Register
The first Transaction Register should be used for your primary Checking Account.
I can’t select a category in the Transaction Register. I see a spinning wheel.
Check to make sure you’re not using the Excel version in Sheets.
If you’re using the Sheets version, you’ll see “Sheets Version” in the title.
If you see “xlxs” then that means the program is being used in Excel, which it isn’t designed to do.
Excel and Sheets aren’t 1:1 translations and some formulas will break if the one version is used in the other program.
Another reason you might not see the categories is that hidden formulas have been deleted from the category page.
If this is the case, you’ll need to download a fresh copy and set up the program again.
Remember that it’s safe to type over information in the individual cells throughout the program, but not to delete or move columns or rows.
There are hidden formulas throughout and the program will break if they are deleted or modified.
Numbers aren’t adding up in the Transaction Register and/or Budget. It’s adding when it should be subtracting.
Check to make sure all expenses are entered with a negative (-) sign and entered under the expense column.
Double check that only alphanumeric characters or dashes have been used in the Category Names.
Reports
The Treasurer’s Finance Manager Features four different reports for all of your reporting needs:
Monthly Statement, Year to Date Statement, Activity Report and an End of Year Report.
Can I use the Treasurer’s Finance Manager to make a Monthly Report?
Yes! The program now automagically creates monthly statements to form the basis of your Monthly Treasurer Report.
Navigate to the Monthly Report tab, select your date range and watch as the report is generated right before your eyes.
You’ll want to print a copy of the Budget Tracker too to complete your report.
The numbers aren’t adding up correctly in the reports and/or budget.
Check your income and expense category names.
Are there any that have identical names?
Have special characters (anything not a dash or alphanumeric character) been used?
The program isn’t designed to have matching category names and might break if special characters are used.
Rename any matching category names by adding “income” or “expense” to the end of the category name. Remove any special character (dashes are not a problem).
Having distinct category names also ensures the correct category is selected in the Transaction Register.
How do I run multiple Activity Reports?
For the Activity Reports, run one at a time and just fill in the new information as needed.
Any information added to the Notes section on the Budget page will get pulled into the Activity Report when that category is selected.
Nothing is showing on the Monthly Report.
First, make sure that dates entered in the Register have been entered as 9/30/2023 (using slashes) and not 9-30-2023 or 9.30.2023.
Next, type in the desired date range for the report in the same Month/Day/Year format.
The program will then pull all of the transactions entered into the Register in the specified time period.
Year to Date Report Set Up
The Year to Date Report is designed to highlight the first 20 categories only and then the remaining categories are grouped together.
It’s meant to act as a snapshot summary, listed income/expenses by dates.
Be sure to list your 20 most important categories first so that they’ll be separated out in the Year to Date report.
The full Year to Date information with all of the category detail is always displayed in the Budget Tracker.
If you have fewer than 20 categories and you don’t want to see the empty category names, you can delete the unused category names in the cell (but don’t delete the row!).
End of Year Procedure
Do I need to purchase a new copy of the Treasurer’s Finance Manager to use each year?
Nope! Make a copy of last year’s program in Sheets, rename to the current year and follow these steps:
1. Copy the final totals from Actuals (Column F) in the Budget Tracking and paste into the Prior Year Actuals (Column I), if using this column. using that.
2. Clear the budget numbers from Column D and put in the new Fiscal year in D5.
3. Update any Categories in the respective tab.
4. In the Transaction Register(s), clear out all the cells with the exception of the Cleared Balance and Running Total (those cells contain formulas and rely on data from the other cells in the row). To do this, highlight the cells and hit the delete button to erase, but don’t delete the rows).
5. Then follow the steps outlined in the setup sheet again.
What do I do at the end of the year?
Either start fresh with a new download or make a copy of your file by updating the dates and budget information and clearing out the transactions register.
Keep a copy of last year’s system for use by the auditor and in accordance with the IRS record retention policy.
Using Google Sheets
New to Google Sheets and feeling a little lost? Give this video a watch for some good pointers:
How to share the program with fellow PTO Officers?
Sharing the program is super easy! Click the blue “Share” button, and either copy the link and send out to whomever you wish to be able to see the information or type their email addresses in the box that pops up.
How to save the link to your PTO Drive or Dropbox?
Copy the link to the file that you get when clicking on the blue “Share” button, making sure to select the sharing options for “anyone with the link” and put it in a document file. Then upload that document into Dropbox.
License Information
View the full license information here. The information on this page is a short summary.
A friend in another organization needs this program too. Can I share the file or link with them?
No. Your purchase of the program gives you a non-exclusive license to use the program with one organization only.
If a friend in another PTA/PTO, Booster Club or organization etc. wishes to use the program, please ask them to purchase their own copy here: https://ptoanswers.com/treasurers-finance-manager/.
What can I do with this program?
You may not edit, alter or otherwise modify any portion of the program to share, sell or transfer it, in part or whole, to another organization or individual outside of your organization.
Have another question not addressed here?
Don’t hesitate to contact us at christina@ptoanswers.com.