OxfordAQA A-Level Accounting: Clubs and non-profit making organisations (9615)

Clubs and non-profit making organisations is section 3.2.8 of the OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Accounting (9615) specification, Version 1.2 (International AS exams May/June 2025 onwards; International A-level exams May/June 2026 onwards), and this guide teaches all of it. You meet it only in the second year: it is International A-level only, and it falls within the content for Paper 3: Financial Accounting, which assumes the AS skills too.

Course links: hub page, plus the printable checklist. Follow-up pages for this topic: the club accounts revision notes, the club accounts practice set and, to find weak spots across the course, the free 10-minute diagnostics. You will reuse statement layouts from the sole trader topic plus the missing-figure technique from the incomplete records topic. Paper layouts are described in our paper-by-paper exam advice.

The clubs and figures below are made up. OxfordAQA states that currency in its question papers is the US dollar, so read every amount here as dollars.

What section 3.2.8 covers

Content (3.2.8, International A-level only)	Skills required
Prepare and comment on the financial statements of clubs and non-profit making organisations	Draw up four statements – the receipts and payments account, a trading account for any bar, café or shop, the income and expenditure account and the statement of financial position – then comment on them
Calculation and recording needed to prepare those statements	Prepare a subscriptions account, calculate and record the accumulated fund, and record life memberships and donations

Why club accounts look different

A tennis club, a drama society or a charity exists to serve its members or a cause, not to earn a return for an owner. Nobody contributes capital and nobody takes drawings. The double entry is the same as a sole trader’s, but several labels change:

Sole trader	Club or non-profit making organisation
Income statement	Income and expenditure account
Profit for the year	Surplus (income exceeds expenditure)
Loss for the year	Deficit (expenditure exceeds income)
Capital	Accumulated fund
Cash book summary	Receipts and payments account

The treasurer is often a volunteer who keeps only a cash book. The accountant then has to work from that summary, much as with a trader who keeps incomplete records.

Worked example: Vellacombe Tennis Club, year ended 31 December 2025

The treasurer supplies this information. Each step below uses it.

Balances at 1 January 2025: clubhouse (carrying amount) 84,000; court equipment (carrying amount) 9,600; bar inventory 1,850; subscriptions in arrears 360; subscriptions in advance 540; bank 4,270; bar suppliers owed 980; electricity accrued 210; life membership fund 6,000.

Bank receipts in 2025: subscriptions 18,450; bar takings 26,300; life membership fees 2,400; donation for new floodlights 5,000; general donation 300; tournament entry fees 1,640.

Bank payments in 2025: bar suppliers 14,720; bar steward’s wages 5,200; court maintenance 3,480; groundsman’s wages 9,100; electricity 2,350; insurance 1,260; tournament costs 980; new floodlights 7,500.

At 31 December 2025: bar inventory 2,140; bar suppliers owed 1,130; subscriptions in arrears 420; subscriptions in advance 690; electricity accrued 260; insurance prepaid 180.

Policies: depreciation on the clubhouse is 2,100 for the year; court equipment (including the floodlights) is depreciated at 20% of its year-end carrying amount before depreciation. Before 2025 the club had received life fees of 10,000 in total. One-tenth of every life fee is released to income each year, starting in the year it is received. Donations for a named capital project go straight to the accumulated fund; other donations are income.

Step 1: the receipts and payments account

A receipts and payments account is a summary of the cash book. It starts with the opening bank (or cash) balance, adds every amount received, deducts every amount paid and ends with the closing balance. Capital and revenue items sit side by side, and nothing is adjusted for amounts owing or prepaid.

     Vellacombe Tennis Club: Receipts and payments account, year ended 31 December 2025
Balance b/d                    4,270  | Bar suppliers                 14,720
Subscriptions                 18,450  | Bar steward's wages            5,200
Bar takings                   26,300  | Court maintenance              3,480
Life membership fees           2,400  | Groundsman's wages             9,100
Floodlights donation           5,000  | Electricity                    2,350
General donation                 300  | Insurance                      1,260
Tournament entry fees          1,640  | Tournament costs                 980
                                      | New floodlights                7,500
                                      | Balance c/d                   13,770
                              58,360  |                               58,360

Receipts of 54,090 exceed payments of 44,590 by 9,500. That is not the surplus. It includes a capital donation and capital spending, ignores depreciation and ignores the changes in amounts owing. Members need an income and expenditure account to see whether the club covered its running costs.

Step 2: the opening accumulated fund

A club has no owner’s capital. Its accumulated fund takes that place, measured as everything the club owns minus everything it owes, minus any separate fund such as a life membership fund. When no opening figure is given, prepare an opening statement of affairs.

Assets: clubhouse 84,000 + equipment 9,600 + bar inventory 1,850
        + subscriptions in arrears 360 + bank 4,270             = 100,080
Less:   bar suppliers 980 + electricity accrued 210
        + subscriptions in advance 540 + life fund 6,000        =  (7,730)
Accumulated fund at 1 January 2025                                92,350

Arrears are an asset (members owe the club). Subscriptions in advance are a liability (the club owes members a year of membership).

Step 3: the subscriptions account

Cash received for subscriptions mixes this year’s fees with last year’s arrears and next year’s advance payments. The subscriptions account sorts them out. The balancing figure is the income that belongs to the year.

                      Subscriptions account
Balance b/d (arrears)        360  | Balance b/d (advance)           540
Income and expenditure    18,360  | Bank                         18,450
Balance c/d (advance)        690  | Balance c/d (arrears)           420
                          19,410  |                              19,410

Subscription income is 18,360. If a club decides some arrears will never be paid, credit the subscriptions account with the amount written off and treat it as an expense (or net it off the income). Some clubs, on prudence grounds, count no arrears as income until the cash arrives. Follow the policy the question states.

Step 4: the bar trading account

A bar, café or shop run for members is a trading activity inside a non-profit organisation. Prepare a trading account for it, then carry the bar profit (or loss) into the income and expenditure account as a single line. Purchases are found from the supplier payments, as in a total account.

Bar purchases = 14,720 paid - 980 owed at start + 1,130 owed at end   = 14,870

        Bar trading account, year ended 31 December 2025
Bar takings                                                  26,300
Less cost of sales: opening inventory          1,850
                    purchases                 14,870
                                              16,720
                    closing inventory         (2,140)       (14,580)
Gross profit                                                 11,720
Less bar steward's wages                                      (5,200)
Bar profit transferred to income and expenditure               6,520

Only costs caused by the bar belong here. Wages of staff who run the bar are a bar cost; the club’s general insurance is not, unless the question gives an apportionment.

Step 5: life memberships and donations

A life membership fee buys membership for many years, so taking it all as income in one year would overstate that year’s surplus. The fee is credited to a life membership fund, and a share is released to the income and expenditure account each year under the club’s policy.

Release for 2025 = (10,000 earlier fees + 2,400 new fees) / 10   = 1,240
Life membership fund: 6,000 + 2,400 - 1,240                      = 7,160

The fund balance appears on the statement of financial position, shown separately from the accumulated fund.

Donations depend on purpose. A small donation with no conditions is income of the year. A large gift for a capital project, such as Vellacombe’s 5,000 for floodlights, would distort the surplus if treated as income, so it is added directly to the accumulated fund (or held in a named fund if the club keeps one).

Step 6: the income and expenditure account

The income and expenditure account applies the accruals concept: it shows income earned and expenses incurred in the year, whether or not paid, plus depreciation. Capital receipts and capital spending stay out.

Electricity = 2,350 - 210 + 260 = 2,400      Insurance = 1,260 - 180 = 1,080
Equipment depreciation = (9,600 + 7,500) x 20% = 3,420

   Vellacombe Tennis Club: Income and expenditure account, year ended 31 December 2025
Income
Subscriptions                                    18,360
Bar profit                                        6,520
Life membership fees released                     1,240
Tournament entry fees                             1,640
General donation                                    300
                                                         28,060
Expenditure
Groundsman's wages                                9,100
Court maintenance                                 3,480
Electricity                                       2,400
Insurance                                         1,080
Tournament costs                                    980
Depreciation: clubhouse                           2,100
Depreciation: court equipment                     3,420
                                                        (22,560)
Surplus for the year                                      5,500

Step 7: the statement of financial position

   Vellacombe Tennis Club: Statement of financial position as at 31 December 2025
Non-current assets
Clubhouse (84,000 - 2,100)                                 81,900
Court equipment (17,100 - 3,420)                           13,680
                                                           95,580
Current assets
Bar inventory                                     2,140
Subscriptions in arrears                            420
Insurance prepaid                                   180
Bank                                             13,770
                                                           16,510
Total assets                                              112,090

Accumulated fund at 1 January 2025                         92,350
Add floodlights donation                                    5,000
Add surplus for the year                                    5,500
Accumulated fund at 31 December 2025                      102,850
Life membership fund                                        7,160
Current liabilities
Bar suppliers                                     1,130
Electricity accrued                                 260
Subscriptions in advance                            690
                                                            2,080
Total funds and liabilities                               112,090

Commenting on a club’s statements

“Comment” means using the figures to judge the club’s position. For Vellacombe:

• Running costs are covered. A surplus of 5,500 after charging 5,520 of depreciation means income covers day-to-day costs and the wear on the club’s assets. The bank rise of 9,500 would overstate this, because 5,000 of it was a one-off donation.
• Dependence on subscriptions. Subscriptions are 18,360 of the 28,060 income, about 65%. Losing members would hit hard; the bar provides about 23%.
• Bar performance. Gross profit is 11,720 on takings of 26,300, a margin of about 45%. Rising steward’s wages could erode the 6,520 bar profit, so the committee should watch it.
• Liquidity. Current assets of 16,510 against current liabilities of 2,080 is comfortable. The 690 in advance is owed in services, not cash.
• Life fund. 7,160 of income has been received but not yet earned. Future years get the benefit without the cash, so the committee should not spend it as if it were spare.

Good answers use figures, weigh more than one side and end with a judgement, for example on whether subscriptions need to rise.

Common errors

• Calling the excess of receipts over payments the surplus.
• Putting capital spending (floodlights) in the income and expenditure account, or leaving out depreciation.
• Treating subscriptions in advance as an asset, or arrears as a liability.
• Taking subscriptions received as subscription income without a subscriptions account.
• Including bar takings and bar purchases as separate lines in the income and expenditure account instead of one bar profit figure.
• Crediting a whole life fee to income in the year received.
• Forgetting the life membership fund when calculating the opening accumulated fund.

Official syllabus

OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Accounting (9615) specification, Version 1.2, for International AS exams May/June 2025 onwards and International A-level exams May/June 2026 onwards (OxfordAQA): section 3.2.8, Clubs and non-profit making organisations.