Recording POA spending

Gers

I'm now running my DM's financails via POA and keeping meticulous records of everything.

I have set up a spreadsheet to record every cash transaction and every card one, however I have a query. Not having any background in accountancy I would appreciate a little advice please.

Every so often I withdraw cash from DM's account (for window cleaner, house cleaner etc) and add this amount to the cash worksheet. I've also been recording it on the card worksheet - am I double accounting for this cash? I can't work out whether to have it on the card worksheet or not.

Thanks

Gers

Can anyone advise me please?

MovingForwards

Let me work this out.

Effectively you are working off spreadsheets and have a list showing all payments for bills / outgoings.

You also have a list showing debit card withdrawals / spends.

All you are doing is double working as your details will match across both lists.

If I was you, I would just do one spreadsheet / list a year, broken down into months:

Opening balance 2020 £1234.56
Item payment date balance
Gas bill 134.56 01/01/2020. £1100.56
Tesco. 50.00. 02/02/2020. £1050.56
Windows 10.00. 05/01/2020. £1040.56

There is no need to over complicate it for yourself.

xxdeebeexx

I have been in your position as I was POA for my mum.
I wanted to record every transaction for the benefit of my siblings to prove that I was honest and budgeting well.


The fact is - they didn't care. They were simply very relieved that it was me taking care of mums finances and not them.

Naturally I kept all our accounts completely separate.
But in the end I simply shoved all the receipts into a tin and, if anyone had a question, I invited them to look through the receipts.

Probably not the best system, but I decided things were tricky enough without any added pressure.


Good Luck

dx


ps I also offered to send copies of mum's bank statements to them on a regular basis

Eco_Miser

On the card worksheet, it's a transfer to cash, not a payment, just to keep the bank balance right.
Similarly on the cash sheet, it's a transfer from bank, not income.
I don't know if this is the right way to do things, but it's the way I keep track of my own spending and balances.

Gers

MovingForwards wrote: »

Let me work this out.

Effectively you are working off spreadsheets and have a list showing all payments for bills / outgoings.

You also have a list showing debit card withdrawals / spends.

All you are doing is double working as your details will match across both lists.

If I was you, I would just do one spreadsheet / list a year, broken down into months:

Opening balance 2020 £1234.56
Item payment date balance
Gas bill 134.56 01/01/2020. £1100.56
Tesco. 50.00. 02/02/2020. £1050.56
Windows 10.00. 05/01/2020. £1040.56

There is no need to over complicate it for yourself.

Thanks - the card payment worksheet is like this:

05-Dec-19 £57.23 Waitrose Shopping
20-Dec-19 £58.22 Waitrose Shopping
20-Dec-19 £150.00 Cash withdrawal Other
27-Dec-19 £18.39 M&S Shopping
28-Dec-19 £20.21 Waitrose Shopping

The cash payment worksheet is like this:

20-Dec-19 £150.00 cash withdrawal (same as above]

21-Dec-19 £16.00 Christmas book £16.00 £139.01
21-Dec-19 £10.00 Postman £26.00 £129.01
24-Dec-19 £20.00 House cleaner £46.00 £109.01
31-Jan-00 £20.00 House cleaner £66.00 £89.01

I have all this on one spreadsheet, two workbooks, and will start a new one tomorrow.

You're correct, I am over-complicating things, just want to get it right as I feel a great responsiblity in managing someone else's money.

Gers

xxdeebeexx wrote: »

I have been in your position as I was POA for my mum.
I wanted to record every transaction for the benefit of my siblings to prove that I was honest and budgeting well.


The fact is - they didn't care. They were simply very relieved that it was me taking care of mums finances and not them.

Naturally I kept all our accounts completely separate.
But in the end I simply shoved all the receipts into a tin and, if anyone had a question, I invited them to look through the receipts.

Probably not the best system, but I decided things were tricky enough without any added pressure.


Good Luck

dx


ps I also offered to send copies of mum's bank statements to them on a regular basis

Thanks - There is no-one else left to care! My only sibling is deceased. It's just that I want to be able to demonstrate that I'm not mismanaging my DM's money. DM doesn't care either as she trusts me. It's me who cares...

Eco_Miser wrote: »

On the card worksheet, it's a transfer to cash, not a payment, just to keep the bank balance right.
Similarly on the cash sheet, it's a transfer from bank, not income.
I don't know if this is the right way to do things, but it's the way I keep track of my own spending and balances.

Thanks for that too. Hearing of the experiences from other helps me reassure myself. I will also try to not stress over it anymore. Watching DM fade away is stressful enough!

Thanks to all those who posted.

MovingForwards

You have over complicated it.

Just keep to one workbook / spreadsheet for income / outgoings and it will be fine, you don't need any more stress than you already have.

MoneySavingUser

Gers wrote: »

Thanks - the card payment worksheet is like this:

05-Dec-19 £57.23 Waitrose Shopping
20-Dec-19 £58.22 Waitrose Shopping
20-Dec-19 £150.00 Cash withdrawal Other
27-Dec-19 £18.39 M&S Shopping
28-Dec-19 £20.21 Waitrose Shopping

The cash payment worksheet is like this:

20-Dec-19 £150.00 cash withdrawal (same as above]

21-Dec-19 £16.00 Christmas book £16.00 £139.01
21-Dec-19 £10.00 Postman £26.00 £129.01
24-Dec-19 £20.00 House cleaner £46.00 £109.01
31-Jan-00 £20.00 House cleaner £66.00 £89.01

I have all this on one spreadsheet, two workbooks, and will start a new one tomorrow.

You're correct, I am over-complicating things, just want to get it right as I feel a great responsiblity in managing someone else's money.

Red amount should be a withdrawal
Purple amount should be a deposit.


The balance on your card spreadsheet should match the bank account balance.


The balance on your cash spreadsheet should match the cash you have in your hands (you should count it every now and then and reconcile back to the spreadsheet like a business would reconcile petty cash)

Zero_Sum

Download MS money. Its so much easier

Gers

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

Red amount should be a withdrawal
Purple amount should be a deposit.


The balance on your card spreadsheet should match the bank account balance.


The balance on your cash spreadsheet should match the cash you have in your hands (you should count it every now and then and reconcile back to the spreadsheet like a business would reconcile petty cash)

I also do a monthly sheet from the bank statements, reconcile it against all card receipts and keep a running total of cash in hand - that's the amount shown as the last column on the cash worksheet. I've set up formulas to do it automatically.

Now I'm content! I shall not spend any more time stressing about this, especially as there's no other family to worry about. I'm only doing is as part of due diligence as POA.

All the advice is really appreciated. Thanks so much!