Hi! Our group does not use 2 people to sign, but many do and it is a good protection. I am sure the only reason we do not do that is because there has never been a problem yet that has warranted doing it. If I had issues and doubts with my Treasurer you bet I would do it!
What we do (which is important for other reasons) is have 3 different board members name on the account. This way any of those 3 board members can sign a check. If our Treasurer goes away, she leaves the checkbook with one of us. God forbid something should happen to your treasurer, you would have to go through a lot of unnecessary
things in order to change the name on the account.
Also anyone who's name is on the account can go and get a printout of the account so you can see what checks what written and what money was deposited.
At each meeting you should have a treasurers report. It should list your balance and should list what amount each fundraiser made. It should list the amounts deposited and list the amounts that were paid out and what they were paid out for.
Your treasurer cannot have all power over the account. What you make and what you spend should be public information in a way. I know if any parent asks our treasurer what something costs (say a class trip) she is obligated to tell them.
Maybe your treasurer has just not kept the best books and is afraid you will be all over her if she gives you access, or maybe she has been up to no good. Either way, you need to tell her that as the presidents you need to have access to that information. You need to know how much money you have and you need to know what things cost? You need to know how much money you need to raise to budget yourselves for the year. Not to mention that even if you don't use 2 signitures. at least one other persons name should be on that account.
Check your bylaws and see what it says regarding the money. If it does not say much, as NMmom says you may have to add that to your bylaws.
If your treasurer balks... in the meantime you can try going to the bank. You can explain that you are the Presidents and that your treasurer refuses to allow you to see the account. They may say that they cant help you, but becuase you are an organization they may very well give you copies of statments. You won't know until you try. When we took over our outgoing treasurer did not turn over the books right away. We trusted her, but we wanted to know what the balance was and what checks had gone out and we were able to get a printout of the account without our names being on it yet.
Lastly, are there any returning members of the board that you can speak to regarding this matter?
I would do my best to not sound accusatory.
Good Luck!
I would try to work things out through her first, but if I didn't get the results I wanted, I would look carefully at the bylaws, talk to my principal, and then have a CPA do an audit on the books. I had our books audited last year (the first time ever for our PTO) it was very interesting!!! As far as the 2 signiture account, I would hold a meeting to revise the bylaws and add in more complete financial articles. Good Luck [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
My friend and I are just getting started as Co-Prez. We are finding out that only a few members really know what goes on. How abnormal is it to only have one person (the treasurer) to have access to the PTO account. We suggested that two people need to sign all checks and she said we didn't live in the real world! We also would like a real bank statement and haven't recieved that either. On her last expense report some things were incorrect and she said she had to check on that....or this and that are combined so bla bla bal...
Before we take over we want to see official statements. Is that to much to ask, how do we get them if she refusses?
