Using Xero for football club finances

Having healthy finances is an important but often overlooked part of managing a thriving football club. Whether it’s keeping track of your club’s spending or making sure membership fees are paid on time, there’s plenty you can do to improve your club’s finances.

Here are a few simple but impactful ways you can use Xero to boost your club’s financial performance whether you’re already using Xero or your club is new to Xero.

Explore the Xero website

New to Xero? Choose the right plan and get set up (Chapter 3 of this playbook)

Streamline your invoicing process with Xero

A large part of staying afloat as a football club depends on maintaining your club’s income. While there are a growing number of grants that football clubs can tap into to support their operations, many rely on club income such as membership fees. So ensuring your invoices are paid on time is vital to maintaining good cash flow. Xero improves invoicing by automating and simplifying the process. This usually translates to invoices being paid earlier and a lower level of overdue debts.

Xero also makes it easier to get paid faster with its invoicing templates which allow users to quickly send branded invoices. If you want to send reminders when a payment is due or overdue, there’s the option of automated reminders. Clubs can also add online payment options, which can help reduce the time it takes to receive payment.

Grants and funds available to clubs

How to invoice: 7 questions you were afraid to ask

Plan ahead with Xero’s cash flow forecasting

The phrase ‘cash is king’ applies to all businesses, including sports clubs. Having a clear view of incomings and outgoings can help them stay afloat. Forecasting the cash flow of your club allows you to prepare for upcoming financial changes and identify any areas of money management that can be improved.

A cloud-based solution like Xero can help create an accurate cash flow forecast for your football club as it links directly with your club’s bank account. To make it easier, Xero also provides a free downloadable cash flow forecast template along with a how-to guide.

What is cash flow?

Save time and skip the hassle with payroll software

For many football clubs, payroll and human resources can be difficult to manage. Frequent movement of players, administrative staff and management means that your payroll solution needs to be flexible and efficient.

Xero Payroll is an automated solution that calculates tax, KiwiSaver contributions and annual leave for you, leaving the guesswork out of it.

Club managers can also save time by turning to an automated payroll solution like Xero, as it streamlines payroll tasks like compliance with IR requirements. You can submit payment and deduction details to IR each pay run and keep digital records as required. The Xero Me app allows staff to view leave balance, payslips, and submit any leave requests.

Benefits of Xero Payroll software

Xero Me app

Track your club’s income and outgoings with the budget manager

Incorporating budgeting into your financial practices can help the club avoid financial difficulties. A budget needs to be realistic and regularly updated to reflect any changes such as increased payroll costs or additional funding received by the club.

Xero offers the option to create a budget and enter budgeted amounts for each type of income and expense. It gives you the option of tracking different categories. It also enables you to draft a budget based on an existing one so that your budgeted figures are realistic.

How to create a budget in Xero

Using Xero to manage your club’s finances

Whether you’re streamlining your invoicing process, improving your payroll function, or automating your tax compliance, Xero can improve your club’s admin and finances both on and off the field.

The basics of using Xero (help article)

Find an accountant or bookkeeper to help you

If you’re too busy to do the bookkeeping for your club or need further advice to get set up, the Xero advisor directory is a good place to find an accountant or bookkeeper to help support you.

Xero advisor directory