On big tours it is quite complicated and a dedicated tour accountant who will look after all the financial aspects of the tour will usually accompany you on the road.
Until you reach this stratospheric position it will be down to the tour manager or yourselves/whoever you have nominated to look after the money. The important thing is to keep a record of every transaction, keep receipts, write down cash transactions from small things you cant get a receipt for like parking meters. Give each receipt/petty cash voucher a number and enter in a spreadsheet. If every transaction has a numbered receipt/petty cash voucher you will easily be able to compile your tour accounts income and expenditure.
All you need to do on the road is make a note of ALL your incomings & outgoings – if every transaction has a piece of paper to go with it you can see at a glance what the balance should be. If you don’t have the time or inclination to enter them on a spreadsheet whilst on the road simply get and A4 book, mark it up with 4 columns, date, voucher no. Amount IN & OUT it will make your life a lot simpler at the end of the day.
Sample Expense Sheet (please click to download, amend to your needs)
These figures will be analysed out and put in various categories and will show whether you are in budget and where the monies have gone.
ACCOUNTING OVERVIEWGenerally the tour manager, if it’s a smaller tour, will prepare the accounts to give to the bands accountant who will check through and do the final reckoning. The bands accountant will let him/her know how they want things like VAT to be dealt with. They should give an overall picture of how much the tour made or lost and where those profit/losses occurred against the budget.