Get your treasurer under control before you get sued or have creditors coming after your assets. Our Bylaws read that the treasurer is the "custodian of the funds", not the owner.
Other than budget items which are voted on at the end of the year for the following year, our bylaws spell out spenting. The pres can approve up to $100 and the board up to $500 anything else must be approved by everyone at the meeting, six members required.
Without a doubt, there should be a requirement for two signatures on all checks.
You should also require an annual audit of the books. I belong to a couple organizations that use the rule of a CPA or a committee of three people who do not have signature authority.
These sorts of rules exist not only for the benefit of the organization, though that is a major benefit of them. They also exist to protect the officers from allegations of mismanagement and malfeasance.
THANK YOU!! I am glad to know that I am not the only one that feels this way. Yes, we have a budget, but it was never taken to the 'general membership' (which I did disagree with). Our treasurer seems to think she can approve things on her own and spend the money any way. Ex- $1,000+ for these gift certificates, a tv/vcr combo (that I had on our agenda that she said there was not time to discus yet a week later she sends an email to the one requesting and said it was approved w/o letting anyone else know- I found out purely by accident) No, we should not have to have every penny approved by the membership, but they should have some say on items that are not included on the budget (such as the certificates, etc) The treasurer also seems to think more money will magically appear- as it stands now we don't have the money to cover what we are obligated to and I seem to be the only one that realizes this. She has contact with the principal w/o the rest of us knowing about anything, but I do not know if the principal realizes how things are going out. I really think the treasurer is trying to do things w/o my consent, and it is destroying the PTO ($$ wise) I will be meeting with the principal after the winter break. Any suggestions on how to solve this?? Should we have to have 2 signatures on each check that goes out?? By the way- she is the only one on the account (she had me taking off when I step down for a matter of less than 2 weeks- of course NEVER contacted me during that time) and all of the bank info is sent to her home. (all of which I do not think is right, but the principal said it was ok having it sent there so she did not have to worry about coming to the school to get the statements or worry about me passing them along) I can't even do deposits. I don't think she is trying to do anything with the $$, but things just don't seem right. (or is it just me??)
Our PTO Executive Board, comprised of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Fundraising Chairperson, Membership Coordinator, Volunteer Coordinator, and Principal, set the budget for the following school year based on written requests from the faculty and previous years' expenditures. We then vote on this budget with the entire PTO Organization at our last meeting of that school year. When the next school year starts, we are ready to roll and have never had to go back to the PTO Organization for approval on any expenditure. We've always spent the money the way we agreed to via the budget. I can't imagine having to ask the organization's approval every time you wanted to spend money. Our bylaws read that the PTO Executive Board is empowered to execute the budget as agreed to. Hope this helped...
We have general meetings twice a year, once in August to approve the budget and once in May to elect officers. All other business, including voting on specific expenditures within the budgeted categories, is handled at the Board meeting. Our Board is pretty large (25-35 people), so it's not as if 2 or 3 people were making the decision. Also, as president, I can approve expenditures of up to $100 with consent of two other Board members. Routine distributions that represent specified activities in the approved budget don't need Board approval. So, for instance, Track and Field has a specific budget and doesn't need Board approval. However, we have a catchall category of distributions to the school that we decide as the year progresses (like your gift certificates). We vote on things like that at the Board meetings. Our By-laws govern all these processes, and we abide by those rules.
And note - we conducted an end-of-the-year survey last May to see if the general membership wanted things to change, more general meetings, etc. They don't. This system works well for us.
