Financial Reporting
Girl Scout volunteers are responsible for overseeing with honesty, integrity, and careful record-keeping
the funds that girls raise. Troop leaders or co-leaders may hold this responsibility as a part of their troop
management or they may delegate the record-keeping to a troop committee member. If the record-
keeping responsibilities are delegated, the troop leader is still ultimately responsible for the income and
expenditures of the troop.
Refer to the Appendix: GSWPA Procedures/Forms for the following:
Discrepancies in Bank Account Procedure
Submission of Annual Troop Finance Report Procedure
Suspected Misappropriation of Funds Procedure
Confirmed Misappropriation of Funds Procedure
Outstanding Debt owed to a Council from Product Sales Procedure (Procedure is pending.)
Click the links for the following:
Annual Finance Report
Annual Finance Report Sample
Money-Earning Basics
Girls earn money in two distinct ways:
● The Girl Scout Cookie Program and other sales of Girl Scout–authorized products (such as
Girl Scout cookies, magazines, or nuts and candy), organized by your council and open to all Girl
Scouts. Girls can participate in two council-sponsored product sale activities each year: the
cookie sale and one other council-authorized product sale. All girl members who take part in any
way of Girl Scouting (troop, camp, travel, etc.), including Daisies, are eligible to participate in
council-sponsored product-sale activities, with volunteer supervision. Please remember:
volunteers and Girl Scout council staff don’t sell cookies and other products—girls do.
● “Group money-earning” refers to activities organized by the group (not by the council) that are
planned and carried out by girls (in partnership with adults) and that earn money for the group.
Girls’ participation in both council-sponsored product sale activities and group money-earning projects
is based upon the following:
● Voluntary participation
● Written permission of each girl’s parent or guardian
● An understanding of (and ability to explain clearly to others) why the money is needed
● An understanding that money-earning should not exceed what the group needs to support its
activities
● Observance of local ordinances related to involvement of children in money-earning activities, as
well as health and safety laws
● Vigilance in protecting the personal safety of each girl
● Arrangements for safeguarding the money
There are a few specific guidelines—some required by the Internal Revenue Service—that ensure that
sales are conducted with legal and financial integrity. To that end, consider the following reminders and
cautions: