Critter's right. You'll want to consider the fees and services provided when choosing a bank. And a biggie for me is one that has a coin counter. (Just count a few hundred dollars worth of coins after a major event!)
My personal bank doesn't have a coin counter. Their policy is that they ship off the coins to a central area and then deposit the amount into your account "in a few days". It's not a huge deal, but much nicer to have a quick verification like our PTO bank provides.
Location is also important since you want it to be convenient (use the school as a reference point - treasurer's change from year to year.) A community bank will be an easier one to develop a relationship with if it has the other features you want.
Once you've started working with the PTO and banks you may be astonished at how lax or strict any given rule is - especially if you have those relationships. Changing signors on the card might require copy of the minutes from the election or it might only require a call from the Principal. (Sorry, I know the Principal is technically an outside party, but the fact is, he is often the long-standing authority figure. Officers change and change, if the long-standing principal calls or writes a letter, the banks will probably accept the change.)
A check is made out to a completely different organization or for a date in the future? Doesn't matter, most banks will deposit it with no problems.
This is not a criticism of banks, just a fact of life. Look at the checks from your next fundraiser. They'll be made out to several variations of the parent group's name, the school, maybe the fundraising company, another school (mom has two kids and got confused), heaven only knows whom else.
I'm not saying there aren't any controls nor that all banks allow this much give-and-take, but there's still a fair amount of trust involved in these transactions.
(Note - when it comes to removing money from an account, things are pretty strict.)
One more thing to consider when shopping for a PTO bank account: ITEMS.
I found most banks have a limit on the number of items you can deposit each month, with a fee assessed for each item over the limit. The definition could vary from bank to bank, but typically an item is a single check, or a unit of $100 cash. This issue can be a big problem during your big fundraiser. Our last bank wanted to charge $.65 per item over 200 per month. We deposit over 600 items during September (book fair and fundraiser). If we had stayed with that bank, we would have been charged $260 just to make the deposit!! Sounds ridiculous, but true.
You might also want to check the PTO Today article archives for a Treasurer's Column about chosing a bank (Volume 3, last year).
We have three authorized signers: Prez, VP, and Trez. We specifically exclude the principal - not his money - even though it would be convenient. You can order your checks with two signature lines to encourage dual signers, but like DaveP said, the bank will not necessarily enforce the 2 signer rule, you'll need to do that.
In addition to simply signing the actual check, we require two signers on the supporting paperwork (Reimbursement Request or Check Request form). The forms list the reason for the check, include the receipt/bill, identify the originator of the check, the budget account affected, and other key info. That way, your "second signer" isn't just signing a check, s/he is authorizing an expenditure. A subtle but important distinction that precludes any "disinterested party" from being qualified to sign a PTO check.
And NEVER, no matter how tempting or convenient it may be, NEVER sign checks ahead of time. Read the article Tim posted under Blog about the $17000 PTO embezzlement case for rationale.
Actually, I would discourage not only the principal from signing authority due to the aforementioned power issue, but I'd also discourage the President from having it.
I know firsthand, I am the President of a 1st year PTO; our signers are the treasurer and a designated board member. That way, a President isn't placed in a precarious position.
I appreciate all of your feedback, but I have to admit that my present PTO dosen't know at this time if that would be a good idea for our principal to be a signer. Kind of gives her too much authority. We have issues in our district which bring concern regarding them and the principal wanting to spend PTO money as they see fit.
Don't like this. Why is the vp a "disinterested party". In this set-up, the princ and vice-princ could write/sign checks.
I'd have a two-signer rule and three approved signers: treas, pres, and principal. (principal because it's nice to have someone who's pretty easy to find).
