We have bonding insurance -- it costs $178/year. We've had it in place for so long it predates my tenure on the board and I have no clue how the cost is determined.
We like our independent status and I'd not like to risk that by putting our money in the district accounts.
Out PTO has bonding insurance. It cost approx $250 for three years and covers 5 people who have the authority to handle money. As the treasurer in the past I provide a complete register of all deposits and expenses and what they were for at every meeting. I also had a page where each activity for the school year was listed with the total of expenses and income for that activity. Even thugh I had the bank statements in my teasurers notebook ( where I keep ALL IMPORTANT INFORMATION ) they were always at every meeting and anyone could ask to see them. My register and activity sheet always balanced with the bank statement. The principal of our school is very cooperative in working with the PTO. I always gave her a copy of both pages and showed her or the president that every thing was in balance.
It depends on your experiences,so in our group's case, I would not give the school any of our money to hold. There have been a few times in the past where that money disappeared.
We have many precautions as far as who can access our account. We have 3 people allowed to sign checks and each check must have at least 2 signatures to be valid. Our treasurer must present our bank statement at our monthly meetings for all to see and question, if need be.
We have an audit done every year in July by an accountant. The treasurer is present with another group member appointed by the President during the audit to make sure all is well. It really helps when your Treasurer is very meticulous in her job.
Another idea as far as Yearly audit is to have a accountant or banker do it, alot of times there is someone from the outside willing to help out pto's for nothing.
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
Actually, if I had a good relationship with the school and there were practices in place to assure the organization retained primary decision making authority - I'd love to use the school as the treasurer.
We've had some posters on the Forum before that worked very well under that model.
And note - there may actually be financial rules in place that help you. Schools often have custody of funds for various clubs and school organizations. In Texas, this falls under the "Activity Fund" and has very specific rules. HOWEVER our state specifically prohibits storing parent group or booster group funds there. Your state might be different.
But - if you don't have the right assurances - then you would be putting your authority over the funds at risk.
As far as auditing the books each year, we use a volunteer committe and there have been lots of great postings on that topic in the past. You might want to search the Forum.
We have a great relationship with our district, but we are wholly a separate entity, with a federal Id # and everything. Our members only vote and decide on how funds can and should be spent.
Your yearly audit...is it a volunteer thing or do you pay the person a fee?
