Chartered accountant for non-profit associations

No. No general rule requires an association to use a chartered accountant: the treasurer can keep the books. My involvement becomes useful when the association employs staff, manages significant grants or has to prepare full annual accounts, or when the committee wants to secure its accounts before the general meeting. I can take care of everything, or review what the treasurer enters.

Not in general. An appointment becomes compulsory in certain cases, in particular above €153,000 a year of public grants, above €153,000 a year of donations eligible for a tax reduction, or when an association carrying on an economic activity exceeds certain size thresholds. In the first two cases, the association must also prepare and publish its annual accounts. The statutory auditor (commissaire aux comptes) certifies the accounts: this is a professional separate from the chartered accountant who prepares them. I review this point with you at each year end.

Yes. The year-end date is generally set by the articles, and nothing requires an association to close its accounts on 31 December. Many clubs and cultural associations close on 31 August: memberships, budget and accounts then cover the same season. If the year-end date is written into your articles, changing it means amending them under the procedure they set out, most often by a vote at a general meeting, then declaring the change to the associations registry (greffe des associations). The transitional financial year is then shorter or longer than a year.

Whether you use HelloAsso or another payment tool, the principle is the same. Each payment is recorded as income for the amount due to the association, before deducting any fees charged by the tool, which are recorded as expenses. The voluntary contribution that a payer sometimes adds for the platform is not income of the association. Transfers received in the bank account often group several payments together: I reconcile them with the platform export, payment by payment, so that the income from each activity is correct. Online ticketing and donations are handled the same way.

Generally, the association’s budget, the budget for the project to be funded and the latest approved accounts. For a public grant, the association also signs the republican commitment contract (contrat d’engagement républicain). When a public grant funds a specific project, the association gives the funder a financial report within six months of the end of the financial year for which the grant was awarded. A public grant with an annual amount above €23,000 requires an agreement setting out its purpose, its amount and the conditions for its use.

In principle, no commercial taxes, as long as it is run on a not-for-profit basis (gestion désintéressée) and its activities are not profit-making: it is then outside standard corporate income tax, VAT and the local business tax (contribution économique territoriale). Other taxes may still apply: payroll tax if it employs staff, with an allowance specific to associations that often cancels it out for small organisations, property tax if it owns property, and tax at a reduced rate on some income from its assets, such as rents. An activity that competes with businesses under comparable conditions can change this, unless it remains ancillary and its income does not exceed a threshold revalued every year. If you have a doubt about an activity, I analyse it with you.

The accounts, supporting documents and dashboard are in a shared online tool, not on a volunteer’s computer. The new treasurer takes over an up-to-date file, and I remain the same point of contact from one season to the next.