When must an association prepare its financial statements?
The financial statements must be prepared within four months of the end of the financial period. If your period is the calendar year, the deadline is the end of April, and the general meeting comes after that, not instead of it.
The order it happens in
Five stages, only one of which carries a statutory deadline, and it is the one most often missed, because the general meeting still feels a long way off.
- 1The financial period endsFor most associations the financial period is the calendar year, ending 31 December. Your rules may say otherwise. Check this once: the surprise always arrives at the point when there is little time left.
- 2The statements are prepared: four monthsThis is the deadline. On a calendar year the financial statements have to be finished by the end of April, whenever the general meeting happens to be held.
- 3The board signsThe financial statements are signed by the members of the board, and the signature is dated. This happens before the review, not after it.
- 4Review by a toiminnantarkastaja or an auditorThe reviewer needs a finished set of statements and time of their own. Allow a week for this, not an afternoon.
- 5The general meeting adopts themThe general meeting adopts the financial statements and decides on discharge from liability. Its date is in your rules. It does not bend to the deadline, and the deadline does not bend to it.
A toiminnantarkastaja or an auditor?
Which one applies to you depends on the association's size and on your own rules. The rules can require a full audit where the law would not, and that is more common than most boards expect.
This is a question we answer in one sentence once we have seen your rules and last year's statements. No charge, no proposal process. Ask us.
Why the schedule usually slips
The reason is almost always the same: the material reaches the accountant once a year, in March, in one large bundle. Four months is generous if the bookkeeping has been done monthly, and tight if it is done once.
The other recurring reason is that the board has changed: the people signing are not the people who were there during the year. That is why we do association bookkeeping every month rather than at financial-statement time.
What we need from you
This much is enough to start. If something is missing, say so out loud: a missing fact is faster to deal with than a wrong one.
- Bank statements for the whole period, from every account, including the old one that now receives nothing but membership fees.
- Grant decisions and grant reports. A grant has to be allocated to the right project and the right period, and that can only be done from the conditions in the decision.
- Membership fee records in whatever form you keep them. A spreadsheet is fine.
- Board minutes, where something was decided during the period that shows up in money.
- Last year's financial statements, if you are changing accounting firm. The opening balances are checked against them before the first month.
Ask about your own association's schedule
Tell us the date your financial period ends and whether you have employed staff. We will tell you what has to be done by when, and what it costs. The conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
Frequently asked
- Can the financial statements wait until the general meeting?
- No. The date of the general meeting is set by the association's own rules, and it does not move the deadline for preparing the financial statements. The statements have to be finished and signed before the review, and reviewed before the meeting.
- Who signs an association's financial statements?
- The members of the board. The signature is dated, and it happens before the statements go to the toiminnantarkastaja or the auditor. What goes for review is a finished set, not a draft.
- What do the financial statements consist of?
- A balance sheet, an income statement and the notes. The annual report is usually a separate document, and many associations' own rules require one even where the law would not. That part of the rules is worth reading carefully once.
- Who does this if we have no treasurer?
- We do. Our association clients have a named accountant who knows the association and holds the schedule even when the board changes mid-period.
Tell us what you need, and we will work out what it actually takes.
A free conversation, about 30 minutes: we go through document volumes, the number of people on the payroll and the services you need, and tell you the exact price. We do not charge for preparing a quote, and the conversation commits you to nothing.