Critter's post rubbed me the wrong way, and I'm not sure why "this post rocks!"

I took over as treasurer 2.5 years ago, and I'm not ready to let go. The previous treasurer had something of a mess of receipts, but he (and the treasurers before him) had done an excellent job of entering everything in Quicken, reconciled down to $0.63, if I recall correctly.

What no one had ever done, though, was file for 501(c)(3). I did it, and now I'm just a touch possessive and worried about the time my youngest leaves the school and I have to pass on the responsibility. I'd be annoyed if term limits forced me to pass it on sooner.

It just seems like it's very dependent on how good your treasurer is, and writing term limits into the by-laws could end up forcing out a really motivated volunteer.

I, too, inherited a financial record mess when I was elected President for this year. In fact, the reason I was elected was because I stood up to last year's President and called for financial transparency. To date, we have not found any theft, but there was a lot of skirting procedures because she was acting as President/Treasurer.

It's much simpler as a PTA, you call your Council representatives. They will step in and discreetly research for you, guide you in what you should be doing/where you go from here, and if there is any theft discovered it will be in their hands ANYWAY. If she has something to be afraid of, let her be. If she has nothing to hide, then she's just standing in the way of you doing YOUR best job for our kids!

I'm not sure if this point is made in your PTA guidebook, but I recommend the job of Treasurer turn over every 2 years. We have term-limits spelled out in our Bylaws. Yes, it's hard to recruit a good treasurer, and if you find someone for the job, they're gold. But over the course of 2-3-4+ years, even the best treasurer can get sloppy. Because she knows the job, people stop looking over her shoulder, and she can easily drop the more time-consuming aspects of her job like paperwork and monthly bank reconciliations. However, if you change treasures every 2 years, there's far less time for a big sloppy mess to develop.

I recommend term limits be formalized in the Bylaws, not just spoken. If they are considered a rule of your PTO, then your board has the power to enforce them, and your members will understand that a new person must step up to the job every 2 years.

Since you're a PTA, I think this is a situation that merits getting the next highest level of the PTA involved (district?/county?/state?). You're in a tough position with the principal since the former pres is a school employee. Although I'm unclear on what position she holds in the PTA right now--is she not an officer anymore? If not, she doesn't really have a say if all the current officers agree to a financial review as required by the bylaws. Do you know where the other officers stand on the issue?

The program for the review is right in the Money Matters book. You shouldn't need an outside person to do it--that could get expensive. It's easy to follow, and includes a review of not only the numbers, but the operational procedures.

If you just call in some outsiders to do an audit, that's unlikely to make a difference--she'll probably still be defensive and unwilling to change anything if she's like the pres I just had to deal with.

I completed a PTA review with 2 other parents a few weeks ago. Some pretty basic procedures were not in place, and they hadn't followed the bylaws on some significant matters. So, while the numbers were correct, we still had a couple pages of recommendations for procedures--all backed up by Money Matters. The pres was ultra defensive when we had a meeting to go over the report. She actually said at one point that next year she was going to hire a company to just audit the numbers, and not allow them to look at any procedures. She couldn't provide anything to prove us wrong; she just said we went way over the top by looking at everything we did.

After that very painful meeting, we contemplated going to the next highest level in the PTA, because she objected to every little thing so much that we started wondering if she was hiding something. However, other officers contacted us independently and said they understood our points and would make sure that things got cleaned up.

I think there are two approaches. One is barb_r's, where you do the audit; it's true it would be good to have an outside authority weigh in. Another would be a lower-key approach where you get the president to acknowledge, without recriminations, that being a PTA, you are required to follow the pesky requirements of the national organization, and you understand that it's a lot of work that other people might not have felt was worth the effort, but you want to do it the right way now.

I know, when I took over, our PTO had never filed anything with the IRS. I talked with the previous treasurers, and I know they weren't deliberately avoiding the rules, they just didn't have the time to invest in the whole 501c3 procedure.

Of course, if you think that the past treasurer did steal funds, that's a whole different ballgame. If she was just sloppy, she'll probably be a little defensive about it, and you've got to tread carefully. Calling for an audit would probably make her more defensive.

I wouldn't be all that worried about missing funds or old reimbursements, as long as you clearly document the state of affairs when you took over. Eg, be sure you keep for yourself a copy of the bank statements, etc. from when you took over.

My understanding is that PTAs have some sort of state and national hierarchy, and perhaps they could be helpful in being that outside authority.

I would also suggest a calm, fact-based discussion with the principal, where you present how you understand the rules and ask for his/her advice on how to proceed.

Sounds like you need to require an audit be done NOW, by an outside firm/person/agency. So that if/when there is ever any question of missing funds/government audit there is some documentation that you inherited the mess and didn't create it. Plus having an outside source clearly state that A,B,C should be done will go a long way in the battle.