Our school district auditor does ours for free each summer. We have to surrender the books for a few weeks while he fits it in, but it's during our down time so that isn't generally an issue.
If that weren't an option for us, we'd use an audit committee following commonly accepted best practices.
In certain circumstances, I guess we might consider spending a small amount, like what Karen Kane suggested.
But under normal circumstances, no way would we ever spend multi-thousands of dollars. At our best year, we probably had $50-$60K run through our accounts in a school year (that's total, not net receipts). It wouldn't make any sense for us to spend a disproportionate amount on an annual audit.
Our group had it's annual audit done over the summer, by a CPA, and the charge was $175. I can't imagine spending more than that... I'm curious to know why it would be so high? :confused:
Our PTO audit cost approximately $3000. This included an opinion letter, as required by the state of Illinois if a not-for-profit group has gross receipts of more than $150,000.00. I think your audit fee may depend on what your state requires. I would encourage you to try to get someone from within your school, but outside of the PTO, to audit your books. Just make sure they have the proper creditials required by your state.
We also have an accountant who volunteers her services to audit our books each year. She is not a parent at the school, just someone a parent knows who offered her help. She asks for nothing, but we give her $50. If that's not an option, why not use a small committee of savvy parents to look things over and crunch the numbers?
As for the laptop-whose idea was that?! I could think of so many things to spend that money on that would benefit the kids. I would recommend finding any receipts/paperwork that go with the purchase of this laptop and then get some parents who KNOW it went home with this treasurer and put your case together. Next, contact this person via a registered letter(so you know she got it)and request the return of this property. Send copies of the receipts/paperwork with the letter. Give her a set amount of time to return said property. When the time expires, if the equipment is not returned, seek legal help.
A couple of years ago, I borrowed some info off this forum about auditing and made a worksheet and checklist. We have used it three times with VOLUNTEER auditors from our parent community. Free. Fortunately, we weren't looking for evidence of impropriety, but I think the process would have found any irregularities, had there been some. I will email you the forms. Pull together the check register, receipts, bills, deposit slips, bank statements, and treasurer reports - you'll need all this for an audit.
Regarding the laptop and software - can you prove it is in her possession? Do you need to consider legal action? It seems very generous to me for a PTO to purchase a laptop for the treasurer. I think most of us use our own computers, or perhaps one at the school. I do think it's appropriate (and inexpensive) for the PTO to purchase the software such as Money or Quicken.
The best way to reduce questions in the future is to set up a spending budget the PTO approves, spend only approved money, require two signatures on every check, and use control forms to document every transaction.
Good Luck!
p.s. I'll need your email id to send you the documents, if you want.
Hi. We had a meeting today. Our past treasurer isn't with us anymore. We have a new one. Our President told us today that she has checked with four or five CPA's and that it would cost us $12,000.00 to $15,000.00 to have an audit done on our books. (Which would hurt the school)
Can someone tell me if this is accurate?
I also found out that we bought our old treasurer a new lap top in August of 2002 and programs for it. Also a coin counter. Does this seem right? The new treasurer doesn't have the lap top. There have been too many questions regarding how the money has been spent. Any suggestions on how to handle this situation?
