I am a new treasurer and I submitted my first report last month. I basically gave a cash flow summary. Our budget wasn't adopted yet. but, once it is, I plan on doing a budget to actural comparison with four columns. 1) Budgeted 2) actual for the month 3) YTD numbers and 4) Variances between actual YTD and budget with explaination of significant variances explained in footnotes. I also give an inventory report. For example, how many t-shirts, directories ect.. we have on hand. For our PTO, this is were the potential for errors and irregularites sits. By reporting these items, it ensure inventory counts are done at least monthly.
For those money's raised above the budgeted amount, when the board agrees to spend them on a project, I keep track of the amounts and reported them to the board as "board designated funds". That way when the boards see the cash balance (especially towards the end of the year) they know that some of the cash has been earmarked for special expenditures. I hope this helps.
[This message has been edited by jjant (edited 08-26-2001).]
Last year was my first year as PTO treasurer. The one thing in which I added was to have a total budget review on a single sheet as a pass-out to anyone attending. This was simply a spreadsheet which showed the budget categories in the first column, the $ amount budgeted in second column, amount spent within the category as a column, and then the end column was the balance of the budget remaining. The reason for me doing this was so that everyone was aware of our targeted budget and where we were with it. Also, this allowed the chairperson(s) for events to know what there balance was. By the way I easily controlled these numbers by using the Microsoft Money software. It was wonderfully easy and convenient.
Also, each meeting we have a treasurer report, which I also easly created with the Money software, that shows our beginning monthly balance, then lists our income and expenses and then nets the three to give us an ending balance.
If you would like a copy of these excell sheets I would be happy to send you copies.
It is especially helpful to do what critter and jo do, if you have to submit an annual report. An annual report is simply your budget with the actual figures plugged in. At the end of the year you would have it done! I recommend our treasurers do this if they have the time.
Like Jo's, our monthly report is a updated copy of our original budget, with every account category listed (ex: candy sale income, playground expenses, etc.). Our report has 3 columns: the original budget figures, year-to-date actuals and variance from plan. This is much more complex than Roberts Rules of Order suggests (which is more like PLW's example). But if you are "into" budget control, it's a great way to keep track of your financial position at the account level.
Our treasurer's report is a copy of the budget which shows where we've taken in money and where we've spent it. (It shows which budget line it came from...)
The treasurer report can be as simple as:
Treasurer:The balance as of March 14, was $870.00
Income:
Membership (10 members at 25 cents per member)-$2.50
Scholarship fund donation - $50.00
Total income: $52.50
Expenditures:
Hospitality (March Meeting)-$20.00
Paper for newsletter-$25.00
Total Expenditures: $45.00
Balance as of April 11, $877.50
It may be worth it to keep it simple. Since there is no action actually taken on the report (It is simply filed), just be prepared to answer any questions. There is no reason to say who checks were made out to just for what and how much. Best Wishes
