To me this is a huge red flag waiving in the air! As a board with nothing to hide, like the others - we would welcome the opportunity to open our books to anyone with questions. At each meeting we provide copies of the updated budget and each board member has a binder that holds, among other things, all previous budgets just in case a question comes up, any of us can address the concern. As a parent - if any organization to which I belonged had a problem providing copies of its financial statements to its membership my eyebrows would be raised so high they'd be above my hairline. Keep plugging away at this. I agree to be polite, that there is safety in numbers, and to address it publicly. Keep us posted.
Reports are public knowledge. It's your right as a parent and member. Our PTO publicly puts the financial report on a bulletin board. The balance is announced in each newsletter that goes home each month. The ending balance from last month and a briefing of what money was spent on. Parents enjoy seeing where is the money being spent. If anyone wants more details they can see any member of the board and they are directed to the treasurer and they can sit with them and go thru any information that they would like to see. Our PTO is audited annually by parent volunteers and a report is turned into the school and district. I can't see why this should be a problem.
Your PTO's records should be open to the members, for any reason. I don't know the legalities, and I doubt that it is addressed in your bylaws (take a look anyway), but I can't think of any decent reason to withhold access.
Have your financial records been audited? If so, your auditor had access to the reports. If they haven't been audited, all the more reason to take a look. Maybe your motives are less complicated, but your officers feel like there is a veil of suspicion. Have you completely explained your interest? Shouldn't matter, but maybe being up front would help open the way.
As a PTO treasurer, I would be thrilled to have someone interested in the details. I'd love to go over the reports - most people just glaze over. I think I'd train them to be the next treasurer!
Doesn't anyone in your group have copies of the reports? We also have to have a year end report of everything. If they stillwon't let you see the reports I would bring it up at a meeting in a way that would not be seen as an attack...something on the lines of...There are some of us who have questions concerning items on last years Treasurer's report and was wondering if you could help us out...if they say no, I would then just start firing the questions that are of most concern to you and let the membership see how they respond...Good Luck [img]smile.gif[/img]
I am trying to find out, as a member of my pto organization, do I have a right to see the treasurer reports from the previous year? Or are they under lock and key. The current president says they are not to be seen, and there are some of us that wanted to compare some notes from last year to this year. I was under the impression that they were to be open books to the membership. Does anyone know how I can find out the legalities of this? I can not go to the principal, she and the president agree on everything. Thank you in advance for your help.
