Question: Problem with President's spending

We have a tiny PTO group. Our President currently purchases most items for all our events and keeps the checkbook. We discuss general costs in meetings, but not specific amounts. We have no annual budget. The President does not turn in receipts timely and gets bristly when asked to fill out forms to list out expenses. Our new treasurer would like to formalize financial procedures, but is being met with resistance. What can the treasurer do to introduce changes and tighten up controls?

Asked by dkmurphy

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
Hi dkmurphy,
Let's start by saying your group needs to make some changes, fast. Otherwise, it is setting itself up for problems. It isn't ok for one board member (president or not) to exclusively control the money in this fashion. The money belongs to all the members and your board is entrusted to manage it in an open process.

So, what is the resistance?

It's time to tell the president that, for the good of the group, the board with the treasurer leading the process, needs to formalize the financial process. Here are some articles that will help you get started:

Budget basics for PTOs -- A step by step on how to create a budget from scratch

What Every Treasurer Should Know

Handling Cash, 6 simple steps

You can also direct your treasurer to our File Exchange where there are lots of documents for treasurers.

Finally, we also offer a Treasurer's Toolkit, which includes all sorts of additional resources, for $39

Good luck!