Thanks. If you have read any of my other posts then you would already know the answers here but since you dont you are probably like most and dont know so I will explain.
No the VP is specifically barred from having direct financial rsponsibility in order to be able to perform his role of internal auditor (auditing here is a complete not just financial).
I am a huge fan of getting professional parents involved like CPAs and lawyers and we have our share. But not all PTOs have access to these people or those people dont have the time or inclination to volunteer.
We are already required to perform an annual certified audit by our charter. This is done by an outside firm. But the people performing your financial audit are not necessarily the people to be your comptroller, in fact from a business stand point I would always recommend against this.
I hope that clarifies for you those things which you were not aware of.
But back to the basic question - a comptroller - let's assume that the PTO organization has all it's ducks in a row for the future of this thread.
Does a postion of comptroller make sense or should the functions merely be assigned to an existing officer. I think most can agree the functions are necessary.
I am on the board of trustees of a 501 3(c) non-profit organization --my childrens' school. We recently had an outside consultant come in to help develop a strategic plan for our school. Our treasurer, a CPA with non-profit experience, is chairing a finance task force which is reviewing and recommending changes to our school's financial policy. In addition I also attended a seminar recently given by Boardsource (www.boardsource.com
) I say all of this because it is my understanding from all of these sources that auditing must be done independently. Does the VP co-sign checks in your PTO? If so, then the person in that office should not be auditing accounts. What you are looking for is a way to establish a system of checks and balances. Look into finding a CPA who has had experience with non-profits. Maybe there is one at your school who is not involved with the decision making board of your PTO. Look into the cost of hiring a firm to do this. The Boardsource person recommeded an audit committee separate from the finance committee with different members for larger organizations (the result of Enron). I guess what I'm saying is make sure whoever you are using to audit your accounts is not someone who is already involved in your financials.
Ok I posted to the end of a thread that I have been thinking about the position of comptroller for PTOs for some time and I would like to get others views on it.
First what is a comptroller! A person who performs audits accounts, supervises and examines expenditures and from time to time certifies expenditures.
Currently in my PTO we have the Vice President doing some of these things. Does it make sense to create a new office or merely assign (by charter) these duties to the VP?
Given the number and nature of some of the problems I read here and other sites I am slowly coming to the conclusion that these duties need to be clearly defined and assinged to an individual in any organization with a gross reciept of over $25,000. I would be thinking that like in business they would also have a lot to do with tax filings as well as the treasurer.
