Cash Budgets, Controls, and Management in Clubs

Cash is important, because it pays for all expenses and obligations. On an annual basis, designated individuals will compile a cash budget for the coming year, which club management will use as a blueprint to operate their clubs and ascertain the timing of the cash inflows and outflows. This study, therefore, explored the extent to which cash budgeting is used in clubs, the various cash budget practices, and whether such practices differ by the demographic characteristics of the clubs. The results showed that cash management in clubs rested largely in the hands of the chief financial officers and the general managers (GM). While 17.5% of the clubs had their GMs as the responsible person preparing the cash budget, this dropped to only 7.7% when it came to daily monitoring of the amount of cash in the clubs. The cash amount in the bank account of the respondents’ club ranged from less than $100,000 to more than half a million dollars. Subgroup analyses by demographic characteristics also showed statistically significant differences in the: (1) person responsible for daily cash monitoring, (2) person responsible for preparation of the cash, and (3) the targeted amount of cash in the club’s checking accounting