I have already requested that the new board be allowed to handle finalizing these end of the year transactions. The answer was that she just felt like she wanted to handle them. The reason is still unclear to me but....she has the "goods" and we are stuck waiting. Just as I can't force my children to swallow their peas, I can't force her to give up something she has "control" of either. This is why we came to this other solution. I'm just nervous that something that I have not thought of might go wrong. We do not have an audit committee and have not had one in the past two years since we have been an active PTO. I am meeting with the officers tomorrow and will bring up this important issue. Who would you suggest? Members from the community? Teachers? or should we hire someone?

We do need to open a new account anyways since our current bank will not give us a debit card. (the other local banks tell us the same story) I will keep checking on that with some other banks. Very few people in our town have money to pay for things out of their own pockets and I would hate to put someone on the spot by asking them to front the money as a committee chairperson, make them feel uncomfortable and not want to help again in the future. We certainly need the help! That is why we are looking for other solutions to the money situation. Thanks for the feedback!

One small thing. Generally, your new treasurer doesn't want to accept the books and actively initiate transactions until the audit committee is done. That's his/her guarantee that everything is starting with a clean slate.

My emphasis would be that the books need to be turned over to the audit committee, but that may just be semantics.

The idea that the old treasurer needs to stay in place to close out any transactions from her term is ridiculous. Well - to be fair, I can see her point to a small degree. I tend to like to close the loop myself. I'd be open (in your place) giving a little leeway, such as,

"We appreciate all you've done and the excellent care of the PTO's finances. I understand you wanting to finish out these last transactions even though your term is over. We can wait as late as May 30th {or whatever is reasonable} if those items can can be finalized by then. But that's the latest we can wait to turn the books over to the audit committee for the routine audit. Anything not closed out by then can be handled by the new treasurer."

I'm with JHB and recommend the same things. Thank her for her previous work, but let her know that you have a new treasurer who is ready and able to handle all of the financial dealings from this point on and that you need the books and all other financial records turned over to the new treasurer immediately pointing out that you are simply following the bylaws for your group. I wouldn't go through the hassle of changing accounts unless it appears that she is really not going to meet your request.

As for handling purchases by committee members, I would just make sure that your new treasurer be very prompt in reimbursing those volunteers for any purchases they make. Do your bylaws have a section on timeframe for reimbursement? I wouldn't bypass the reimbursement process under any circumstances. You need to make sure you have a good paperwork trail of your group's financial transactions and reimbursing folks without the proper paperwork just leaves you open for problems. Our group is one that has a debit card and it has worked out well for us. The President holds it and makes purchases with it for large ticket items, especially for things that need ordered like prizes for our carnival.

I'm not sure who told you a non-profit can't have a debit card. It seems we've had plenty of folks post in these forums that they use one. Although I'm not sure I personally would be comfortable with it.

As far as the books - I guess your solution is workable, but it seems to me you are going overboard to work around her whims. I guess I'm not that nice.

If it were me, I'd take a copy of the meeting minutes and bylaws to the bank (showing change of officer) and remove her from the authorizing card - adding the new officers.

Then I'd recruit a fairly strong minded individual to head up the audit committee and inform the past treasurer that the all the books needed to be turned over by X date for the routine annual audit. Being "nice", I'd probably offer to have someone swing by her house and pick up the checkbook.

Okay, maybe I'd try to sugar coat it a little - thanking her for all her hard work and emphasizing the routine nature of it.

It's a normal transfer of duties.

Back to the payment of goods - I guess we always did the routine juggle everyone else does. Members prepaid with reimbursement later (but quickly), treasurer wrote checks in advance when amount known, treasure accompanied person to write check onsite. For most things we ordered, the company would take a PO from government or nonprofit entities. If not, I never minded using my own credit card - but obviously that's a personal decision.

We just elected a fully new executive board to our small PTO. The new officers have been very active in the PTO and are confident in taking over. During our last meeting, the agenda was: voting in new officers and how much to spend on a couple of items we had rasied money for during the year. By the end of the meeting, all was decided.

I was elected the President and had asked, in advance, for for documents pertaining to each office be turned over by the end of that meeting. (as per our bi-laws) I was not present during the last meeting because of a family members birthday. I was told the next day that the treasurer, previous term, would not turn over her information and that she would personally be handling the check writing for the items discussed in the meeting and that she would hand over statements, checking information, etc.. when the checks were cleared. Ordinarily I wouldn't care. However, the checks she intends to write are for 2 other PTO groups "seed money" and they have not formed yet. This could take weeks! This would also put us in a situation of having to pay for anything we want to get done out of our own pockets and then filling out a form to be reimbursed at a later time. Again, this would not be a problem except for the "past" treasurer has denied reimbursement (even after discussion) just because she alone felt like it may not have been necessary. These parents were sometimes forced to "donate" certain things, after the fact, because she wouldn't reimburse them. She is trustworthy of the funds but looked at her "duty" as having total control over the PTO money. After some heated discussion, I came up with an idea to have the "old" treasurer write the PTO a check for the balance in the account, taking into account the checks she is still writing and waiting to clear. We would open a seperate checking account for the PTO that would have the new treasurer and Pres on the account. Does anyone see any potential problems with this idea??? I just want a smooth turn over without any animosity!

Also, any advise on how to handle giving money to committee members without giving cash or dealing with a reimbursement for certain events??? We have been told that a non profit org cannot hold a debit card. How do you handle ordering on line without one? Anyone have a credit card that they use? Any ideas would be great!!! Thanks!