PTA Treasurer

[rperrina]

Hi,

I have recently taken over the Chair position for a health busy PTA. My question is,if the treasurer doesn't fulfill their role in the way the Chair wants, or gives little if any financial updates. What are the consequences or next steps?

Thanks

Is your PTFA a registered charity?

You nag them a bit.
Eventually they will either do what you want or resign.
If you think it will be the latter, best to have someone else eyed up to take over.

I used to go to mugs with info on latest incomings and outgoings, upcoming expected and current bank and accounting balance.

I gave input as to how much we had available to donate to school when we got to donations time.

I ran a spreadsheet which was available if needed.

What aren't they doing?

Does the PTA have a written constitution? Financial management including agreement on how often and in what format the financial reports should be made available should be included in that.

It has to be a group decision, the chair isn't in charge as such. I have been the chair of the parent council in my school for 9 years. You must be due an agm soon? If I were you I'd try and hang off till then. If someone else is willing to take over the position, they can put their name forward and hopefully be voted in at the agm. If there is more than one person interested in a position it should always go to a vote and if everyone else in the PTA is aware of the treasurers failings, then it shouldn't be too difficult to oust the current holder

Yes it is. All up to date with no issues. It's the regular updates that cause the issue

When I say nag them, I mean clearly ask ang get minuted request for specific info each meeting.

As : next meeting and ongoing please provide ...

Then remind say 5 days before etc.

Yes, it is a registered charity. All up to date more just the general updates each month

The AGM is a good shout, yes we are due one shortly actually.

We don't have any interest from anyone else I wouldn't have thought but worth bringing it up.

Can the head teach help or do they tend not to get involved too much?

PTA accounts should be very simple. Not sure what you are asking for but if the treasurer isn't able to tell everyone the receipts, expenditures and cash at bank each month then they aren't doing their job. Nag them once. Nag them twice. If that doesn't work it's time for the committee to vote to replace them.

Monthly updates are a bit much.
You're a small charity not a business.
Maybe they're too busy to do this? Perhaps quarterly would be more realistic.
Why do you need monthly updates?

I think half termly updates for a busy primary.
What is the actual problem?

No HT cannot get involved. Or at least won't want to.

Just circulate pdfs of the bank statements in the interim?

Anything else is just a huge faff

I am currently on the fence as to whether the treasurer is at fault or you have unrealistic requests.

Thanks all. They have access to the bank to view incoming and outgoing money.

We have x2 bank cards for the account, both currently sitting with me because the treasurer was unreliable to purchase good in a sufficient time.

For example, we are holding a disco in two weeks and need sweet bags buying and selling sweets at a village fete on the 20th May.

She has said more than once that she will buy the bags, but this has yet to be done (she has the card set up on her amazon) the closer it gets to the event, the less people thst will help bagging up the sweets, so it will be left to either me, or the secretary. Which is just frustrating.

We have now held 3 events, which I would be unable to tell you how much we spent or made at them despite having at least 2 PTA meetings.

It is possible that I need to manage expectations better.

What is it that you want? Statements? They should be up to date and easily accessible.
If you’re asking the Treasurer to go through them with you with a fine toothed comb then that might be a bit unreasonable, but they should be able to give you copies pretty quickly.

X post.

No, that’s completely unacceptable of her.
She doesn’t count the money after the events on her own does she?

Ok the lack of event info is definitely poor.

The purchasing could be done by anyone and claimed back.

Maybe ask Treasuer if they are getting overloaded.

I think you might be better off divvying the work up a bit more.
It's not financially that wise to have the Treasurer doing all these roles.
If you don't know the expenditure or the income from an event I think that is a problem.
I was the chair of our PFA and like someone else has said - we would count the takings at the end of an event or with 2 people present.

It is not the treasurers job to buy things for the events - that can be done by anyone and claimed back. Or add more people onto the account / get cards for everyone on the account. If you’re a registered charity don’t you need all of the trustees on the bank account? We needed to.
Also be clear in your expectations of them. Ask for updates at every PTA meeting, put it on the agenda beforehand. And if they don’t bring it ask them to update the minute taker after the meeting so it can be added.

I do think you need to be able to advertise the profit from an event within 2 weeks to the parents, pref 1 week for smaller things.

PTA treasurer here. A few points-

• Headteacher will not get involved
• After any fundraising event, cash should be counted by 2 people. I then add this to any card and online payments to total up. Then minus any expenditure to give total amount raised. Will share this at next meeting (we have meetings every 3-4 months or so). Will also update how much we have in the account, but no more detail than that.
• Will report on income / expenditure / overall finances once per year at AGM.
• In our PTA, the whole committee is responsible for purchasing things for events etc, and we claim this back on expenses. This is the treasurer's responsibility to organise.
• If you are a charity and have access to online banking, more than one person can have access to this - in fact you need 2 authorisations to send online payments. Can you set this up so you can have an overview of finances?

Our accounts are audited every year prior to reporting to the charity commission. This is done by an accountant and she goes over everything - expenses, income, outgoings etc. Your treasurer should have clear records of all this. Are they new to the role?

NB I should say that total money raised from any event is shared with parents in around a week or so, but expenditure etc isnt discussed until next PTA meeting.

I agree, we have termly updates. 3 times a year instead of 12. Although our treasurer does let us know the total raised immediately after each fundraiser too. But that’s just a quick what’s app message to the charity members.

Thank you, this is a helpful insight. 😀