Rockne;150107 wrote: Reimburse the group for missing receipts? She'd (rightfully) tell you to go pound sand. That would be crazy, not to mention unfair and unenforceable.

I agree. She's a volunteer, right? In our PTO (where, full disclosure, I am the treasurer), none of the accountants want to do more accounting and have declined to run for treasurer, so we get people with other backgrounds (like me). If you had a paid accountant, you could expect a higher level of care.

I can imagine some of these were receipts that the payee promised to get to her later, she didn't want to be a pain about it and wrote the check, then the payee forgot to bring in the receipt. I know I wrote one check this year where the VP (who generally thinks I'm too much the stickler) said someone else needed a check for a deposit ASAP, she'll get the invoice to me "right away" but it was over a month later.

I think probably the treasurer has gotten the message, and will be more strict with those requesting payment, or better about filing the receipts and/or making copies. The question I'd have is: will that one nay-sayer be harassing the treasurer for the rest of her term?

I'd let it go. If you can use the systems in place to determine there was no embezzelment then bravo because those systems are doing exactly what they needed to do. Everyone is human and this isn't a corporation. I would mention the audit findings at the next meeting to have them put into the record of the minutes, state up front that 20 receipts totalling 300 dollars were missing and that secondary checks of the expenditures proved there was no embezzelment and that the disbursements were legitimate reimbursements for PTO business. Then I would state what corrective action the board plans to take as far as ensuring all receipts are maintained in accordance with policy.
Perhaps you could put into place a quarterly reconcilliation with the treasurer and another board member to ensure the proper procedures are being followed so the issue doesn't arise again.

We all know that the treasurer's job is probably the second most challenging in the group. If I had a good one, I wouldn't get rid of her.

d

Reimburse the group for missing receipts? She'd (rightfully) tell you to go pound sand. That would be crazy, not to mention unfair and unenforceable.

Sounds like you guys have very good systems. Many groups don't discover embezzlement before waay too late, but you guys discovered some less-than-precise paperwork habits before they turned into more. Good for you.

To me, your decision is a personnel decision. Treasurer sounds honest and probably nice. Does she want to continue in job? Maybe she'd rather do something different where precise wouldn't be so key. Or maybe she does want to stay on and be sharper.

To me, the only decision you'd have is -- if she wants to stay on -- do you want to politely/firmly ask her to take on a different role? I could see a justification for that, but I don't think I'd be there personally.

Tim

Upon auditing, we've discovered that our treasurer, who just started her 2nd term in office is missing receipts for about 20 transactions out of approx. 300 total. She told the audit committee up front that she had lost them, and even had a list of which transactions. None of them are made out to her, the canceled checks are all available, we know that the people they were made out to received them, and they were all entered into finance manager correctly.

The audit committee as a whole is in favor of letting it go, with a recommendation that the treasurer no longer let people shove receipts into her hand without a reimbursement form, which is what appears to have happened, but we have one member who says that we need to make a big deal about this, take it to the members at the meeting, and get rid of her as treasurer for the upcoming year, or ask her to reimburse the group for the missing receipts.

So the question is, who is right here? Are we supposed to be making this a huge deal, or are the majority of us who say that everyone makes mistakes in the right? If the books aren't 100% perfect, but no actual malice is suspected in any way, what do you do?