I am the new Treasurer for our PTA. I have been browsing the old boards trying to find an answer to my question about transitioning from the old Treasurer.
Our bylaws state, "officers shall assume their official duties at the colse of the general membership meeting in May....or until their successors are elected and assume their duties" We just had our May meeting today.
The membership year "shall begin on August 1 and end on July 31." It also states, "All officers shall deliver to their successors all official material within 10 days following the meeting at which their successors take office."
When I talked to the outgoing Treasurer today about a transition timeframe, she told me she would give me the books in August....Is this OK, or do I need to get the books and information from her before? The audit and tax return filings are done after year end, which is why she wants to keep the information....Does this sound reasonable to you all? Is the outgoing Treasurer covered by our insurance after the May meeting if it is clear that there is a 10 day turnover period.
She said she received her books in August when she was elected before. I also talked with the new President (who is the outgoing Secretary). She asked why I would want to take responsibility during the year for someone else's work. She does have a point....BUT I don't know if these bylaws are put in place to ensure two sets of eyes look at the books before an audit takes place. 95% of the income/expenses have been paid according to my review of the latest financials presented.
Our Bylaws have a June 1 start date, but we use the June school days as a turnover for Treasurer responsibilities. This provides the incoming Treasurer some guidance with the outgoing Treasurer. So the past Treasurer maintains the checkbook during June, she gets the incoming Treasurer on the account and provides a turnover. So by the end of the school year everything is turned over and the outgoing Trasurer will be removed from the sccount. This is also the timeframe that an audit is performed.
Our bylaws clearly state that our Teasurer stays on through July. August is when the audit would be conducted and the books transitioned to the new Treasurer. That way the current Treasuer can finish up all expense sheets and balance the last bank statement for those transactions. It makes sense to us to have the Treasurer stay on longer than the other officers and its worked very well for years.
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Our school year ends mid-June. Our PTO's fiscal year (and officer terms) runs August 1-July 31. That gives our outgoing treasurer plenty of time to pay all remaining bills and reconcile most of the activity from the school year before the fiscal year ends and our books are reviewed (audited). Our school starts right after Labor Day so there's very little activity in August.
If we know we'll have summer expenses (ex: last year we planned a major new activity for the start of school and had to spend some money in preparation in the summer), then we'll vote to approve a certain amount, like a preliminary budget, in May or even June. Depending on when this money is actually spent, it will either be booked against the just-ending fiscal year, or the new fiscal year. If it's booked in the new fiscal year, it will show up as an actual expense for that category on the first treasurer's report of the new school year. It's a little weird since we're showing actual financial activity even before we've approved the budget for the new school year, but since the expense was approved in May, it's ok.
The old treasurer just handles the checks and bank statements until the new treasurer takes over Aug 1. At that time, we also change the signature cards at the bank to our new officers, and update the address where we want our bank statement mailed (to an officer who doesn't have check-signing authority).
I would strongly encourage you to define a fiscal year = officer term, that allows the old officers to finish straggling school year business before transitioning. Depending on when your school year starts/ends, that could be July 1- June 30 or August 1 - July 31.
We are in the middle of transitioning to a new board, our by laws do not state a yearend date so we are unclear as to when everything will be in our hands. We just had our Fun Day and bills are coming in along with other year end activities and the old President wants the treasurer to stay on to finish paying all the bills. I have a couple of questions:
1) If your board runs from June 1 thru May 31 and you have expenses in June how do you handle the new board taking over while there are still prior year board member expenses?
2) If your board runs from July1 thru June 30 how does the new board members get approval from the members for summer purchases if they have not taken over yet?
We will be revamping our by laws this summer and are wondering what would be a good starting and ending date for the board members.
I would like to thank all the people on these boards for all the advice that has been given. I have read these boards for the past few months and have gotten some great suggestions. I am looking forward to my next two years on our board and everything these boards have to offer.
