Even though you only have one bank in town. I would probably still change the actual account to a different one. Mistakes happen especially in a small town they might not even realize she isn't on the account any more. If its changed totally she would't have any info on it. Have the treasurer and whoever else needs to be on the account open a new one.

Good Luck

One other thing 1919: once you get all of the financial records from the bank and fundraising company, I would recommend having at least one other person work with you on going through the paperwork and recreating the financial history. That way it won't look like a one person vendetta against the old president if heaven forbid, you find something inappropriate, and you'll have someone else to back you up on the process of recreating the history.

Thanks for your help. I did get the "bad president's" name off of the checking acount. It is from the same bank and account number. We are a small town and only 1 bank in town. And I also went and got the old bank statements for the last 4 years. Now I have to just want for the bank to send them to me. The school doesn't have any records of anything that was bought from her. Teachers are just remembering if anything was. And no one has a reciept. The other president never gave out reciepts. That is one thing I paln on doing! The fundrasing company did give me a copy of the records from the last 4 years. Thanks for all of your advice. I will keep you posted.

If she was that devious, I'd certainly make sure that I closed the current account and opened a new one just to insure that she has no access to the funds that are left. I would then ask for past bank statements and see if you can figure out the financial situation. If you see big sums written to this former officer or other suspicious sources like credit card companies, I'd call her on the carpet and ask for proof that these items were related to the school. I'd also contact the fundraising companies she used and see if they can get you copies of there records on your group's sales. The school should also have records of any items or funds that were given to them by the group.

Basically, try to gather as much of the financial records as you can so you can piece together what happened in the past. You may find that there was no wrong doing, just a nasty vindictive person who wanted to make your life difficult. If you do find suspicious activity, then you have the financial records to back that up, not just your suspicions.

Are you using the same bank account that she used?

Is it a business account?

Are you a 501(C)(3)?

And most importantly, are there Bylaws, and if so, what do they say about the bak account, turn over, and financial records?

I have just become the new president of our PTO. For the last 8 years or longer their has been 1 lady in charge of the PTO. She never wanted any help with anything and never had meetings. But she did do fundraisers. And made A LOT of money. Just in the last 4 years she profit over $22,000. Now when the "new" PTO got started, the former lady burned all of the records and left $3,000 in the checking account. What should the new PTO do? There is a lot of money that can't be accounted for. I went to the school and they wasn't aware of how much money she had even made. And since the school has nothing to do with the PTO they can't really help much. How do you approach a person like this? Do you go to the bank and get back statements? Or do we just forget about it ever happening and keep moving on. Our new PTO group just got started in March of 2007. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.