You know what this Mom thinks, the Secretary isn't taking the PTO seriously. I wonder what would happen if she was asked to keep receipts and or keep track of every penny NOW. Does she know ....never mind- she should know that if you were to be audited there would be a huge flag on a check for $5000 with no reciepts or itemized invoice from the school. Would anyone in the finace dept at school have any idea where and when the school needed funds from the club? Might be worth checking into.
You are accountable to the parents, the Secretary should have been more accountable to you, she could be and should be made to realize your membership would like to know where $5000 went to and the group may not approve such spending in the future. Does HER "boss" know about this lack of .....respect (can't think)? He/she should.
$5000 is a lot of money. That's 5000 candy bars or suckers or sodas or awwwhh you see the point.
We had a small problem sort of like that with our school. We pay $7 per child for field trips, the parents make up the difference. The school in the past has collected the money and then at the beginning of the following school year had given money to the PTO for the whole year. This year when they did that (all new officers this year). We questioned what the money was from. The school said field trips, and other things, couldn't say exactly what. Also they used money from there to pay for things teachers had to pay for on the field trips. So now that we have an accountant filing our taxes we have told the school that the accountant needs a deposit and a receipt for every check we write. That way when money is coming in we know exactly what its for and the same for when its going out. Without a receipt we can not issue checks. Our accountant had to go back 4 years to file back taxes and this is what she has asked. The principal had no problem with providing receipts before we issue them a check.
I suspect you have approached the wrong person. I am the bookkeeper for a private school. When I request reimbursement from the PTO I always provide itemized expense reports. I do not provide copies of actual invoices though I would if an expense came into question.
I am surprised by the amount of reimbursement being sought. It suggests to me that volunteerism isn't what it should be and that the school is now directing the activities that were once handled by the PTO.
We don't reimburse the school much for things, mostly we buy directly. But when we do, we "pay as we go". Once in awhile, we've committed to cover the ongoing expense of consumable science materials (cotton balls, alcohol, salt) or used some school-owned supplies and needed to cover the cost. I know some PTOs pay their school for copying charges. Those are tracked by code numbers, but easily available information to share.
Either we'd expect to handle it item by item, or else in a routine fashion (monthly). Like any other funds request, the transaction cannot occur without a completed reimbursement form accompanied by receipts or detailed documentation.
I second LUV. Since it's "all for the kids", and the school knows how much to charge your PTO at the end of the year, it shouldn't be too much trouble for the secretary to create an ongoing itemization. Ultimately, I'd want to push for complete control like LUV's PTO (and ours), but take little steps first so you don't alienate the PTO from your administrators. Good luck!
