Dorothy’s story

"I'm one of the trustees at the Women's Ministry, a registered charity based in west Croydon. I also work as an administrator there. We support and empower women by providing social and training events. We hold residential workshops on, for example, topics such as raising self-esteem.

I heard about the AccountAbility scheme through Croydon Voluntary Action – I go there regularly for advice and support about any issues that might help our organisation and they told me about AccountAbility.

The topics that we could learn about by getting involved sounded interesting. We had been keen to do something like this but there doesn't seem to be much else available to help us in that way.

AccountAbility did a financial health check for our organisation which was very useful in terms of helping us put the correct financial management procedures and policies in place. They told us about better ways we could manage our finances. For example, they helped improve our accounting spreadsheets and gave us templates that we could use to put new systems in place.

I also attended two training sessions that they ran on budgeting and forecasting which was set at the right pace for me – it wasn't not too complex nor was it too simple. At the sessions we were given a folder with information and fact sheets that we could take away with us – that has been a useful tool we can refer to now if we need to

We also have volunteers who have attended AccountAbility courses on financial management and I plan to continue sending volunteers on the courses.

It's definitely made a difference to us. We are more professional now as an organisation."

---

London Councils provides £357,580 of funding for AccountAbility to provide community accountancy services in five boroughs. Community accountants are based in local CVSs to provide support, advice, training and information on financial management and accountancy issues.