The procurement process should be the same for most organizations. For instance I work for a government agency (always conservative) and these are my options when I need something.
Request for purchase needs to be documented and approved by chain of command.
Then, to make the purchase I can:
Allow purchaser to handle
Buy myself and get reimbursed (subject to all our restrictions)
Under certain circumstances, the purchaser will allow me to take her agency procurement credit card and buy the item. (i.e., borrow the card, leave immediately to make the purchase, return with card and receipts.)
If the item is invoiced after the fact, then the invoice will come to me (and my manager) for verification before purchaser pays it.
It's not the treasure's job to approve expenditures. That's the job of the Board. It's the treasurer's job to make sure reimbursements/expenditures are in line with the organization's decisions and good financial practices are observed.
The committee should be presenting a budget to the Board. Some things are more detailed than others. Some are approved as line items in the annual budget, others case by case. The more money at state, then greater care should be taken. For instance, when we did it - Breakfast with Santa was allocated $500 - distributed approximately as had been done in year's past. If more funds are needed or if the committee drastically changed the plan for expenditures, it needed to go back for vote.
Once the parameters are set, the treasurer needs to work with all parties to make the purchases and assure proper documentation. If it's necessary for her to pay (i.e. no one is willing to be reimbursed) then schedules need to be coordinated or an exact amount so she can write a check (harder and harder to do). But if committee members are willing to pay and be reimbursed, then they should be able to turn in receipts and complete a reimbursement form.
we must be very fortunate. we have started issuing a check signed by appropriate officers and will leave the amount blank, in return the person doing the shopping must return appropriate receipts within a certain amount of time. we started doing this because some people willing to chair the event just couldn't afford to put the money up front. it has worked very well for out PTA for the past 4 years. If the person knows the amount and who the check goes to it will allbe filled in and they just have to return the expense form along with receipts. i'd check the bylaws to see how they are written for your group and maybe the board needs to sit down and discuss this matter and maybe make changes.
Being the treasurer at our local school, I can understand how she might want to be sure the items purchased are what has been approved. But, I agree that she is being hard to deal with. The president and I (treasurer) both do the shopping for events. And on occassion we have had a couple other people purchase items and turn in receipts for re-imbursment. There should be no reason why she could not allow them to purchase items and turn in receipts for re-imbursement. If something was purchased that wasn't approved, she could just deny the re-imbursement.
I think you should bring it up to your president. And then, at the board meeting.
While being responsible with others money is a good thing if the way the finances are handled are covered in the by-laws, there are budgeted line items and approved events then she needs to get over it and someone needs to sit her down and have a serious conversation with her to see why she is operating this way. Otherwise, we do it as everyone else has all ready mentioned!
