Guides · For saccos · 6 min read

How to calculate a VSLA or savings group share-out

A step-by-step way to work out what each member gets at the end of the cycle, with a worked example you can copy.

At the end of a savings cycle, a village savings and loan association (VSLA) or savings group pays out everything in the loan fund to its members. Each member gets back their savings plus a share of the interest and fines the group earned, in proportion to how many shares they bought. Here is how to work it out so that every member can check it.

Before you start

• All loans should be repaid. Money still out on loan cannot be shared, so most groups stop lending a few meetings before share-out.
• Keep the social fund separate. It is not part of the share-out unless your constitution says otherwise.
• Count the cash in the box and check it against the records: total share purchases, interest received, fines, and anything spent.

The calculation

1. Add up the loan fund: all the cash available for share-out (cash in the box plus any money at the bank or on mobile money, minus the social fund).
2. Add up the total number of shares every member bought during the cycle.
3. Value of one share = loan fund ÷ total shares.
4. Each member's payout = their number of shares × value of one share.

Worked example

A group of 25 members sells shares at 2,000 each. Over the cycle members bought 1,240 shares, so they saved 2,480,000. Through interest on loans and fines, the loan fund has grown to 3,100,000 at share-out.

Every share earned the same 500 profit, so the member who saved most gets the most profit. That is what makes share-out fair, and it is why the share register must be right.

Common mistakes

• Sharing out while loans are still unpaid, then finding the box short.
• Mixing the social fund into the loan fund.
• Paying interest by how long someone saved instead of by shares, when the constitution says shares.
• Rounding each payout up, so the last member is paid short. Round down and share the small remainder by agreement.

What about a SACCO?

A registered SACCO works differently. It does not pay out its savings each year. Instead, at the AGM members approve interest on savings and a dividend on share capital, paid out of the year's surplus after the reserves your law and bylaws require. The principle is the same: every member is paid in proportion to what they hold.

Prograte keeps each member's shares, the loan fund and the social fund separately, and works out the share-out (or the SACCO's year-end interest and dividends) for you, so members can see their own figure in the app.