The Role of the Chapter Treasurer
The role of a treasurer is without a doubt one of the most important in the chapter. It is critical that the chapter treasurer be conscientious and have good systems in place; otherwise the chapter is at serious risk. This simple checklist is intended to help new treasurers understand the key functions of the role, but please keep in mind that every chapter is different so it’s critical to cater a comprehensive checklist to those realities, which might include such things as state or local filing requirements.
As a new treasurer, you will want to discuss the responsibilities and expectations of your position. Customizing a position description is helpful to guide your efforts but also to archive in chapter legacy documents for succeeding treasurers (example position description).
Among the treasurer responsibilities and tasks are:
When starting out, confer with the chapter president and outgoing treasurer to ask for lessons learned and make sure the signatories on the chapter bank account are current.
The chapter treasurer must read and become familiar with the 2015 Policy on Financial and Property Controls and ensure the chapter is in compliance. Most critically:
That at least one member of the chapter’s board (who is not able to withdraw funds) is acting as the financial reviewer – reviewing on a monthly basis each of the chapter’s bank account records and the records of any debit or credit card transactions.
That the chapter keeps a current written inventory of all personal property in excess of $200 in value that the chapter owns.
That the chapter has a process in place to keep any restricted donations restricted for the purpose which the donor intended.
With the chapter executive committee, become familiar with and understand TU’s risk management and insurance limitations and ensure the chapter is compliant – from the limitations of our 501c3 to liquor liability.
Ensure the chapter president lists you as the new treasurer on the chapter officer roster and chapter contact information in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org. This is critical as it allows you to access the Annual Financial Report, among other things.
Ensure the chapter Annual Financial Report is filed in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org within 45 days of the close of the fiscal year. To file this report, the treasurer will be asked a series of questions that aren’t all financial related (like volunteer hours.) It is strongly recommended that the treasurer get assistance from other volunteers to help track these sorts of metrics throughout the year to make filing easier.
File required Forms with the IRS each year. Questions about the correct Form 990 to file? Please visit: www.irs.gov or TU’s online resources for financial management and reporting.
Particularly if your chapter is large enough to file a Form 990, ensure that you have the proper controls in place such as a conflict of interest form, document retention form, whistle blower policy and that you’ve shared the Form 990 with your entire chapter board.
With the Executive Committee, develop, approve and track a budget of chapter expenses and revenues each fiscal year.
Ensure that your chapter is set up with an electronic funds transfer (EFT) with the national office of TU to ensure delivery of the chapter rebate or an Embrace A Stream grant.
Ensure donations to your chapter are properly acknowledged.
Consider appointing an assistant treasurer, possibly the financial reviewer, such that you are transferring knowledge to a successor at an early stage and getting help with administrative tasks.
Chapter Financial Reviewer Role
Trout Unlimited chapters work hard to raise funds for conservation and related purposes, and one of the most important responsibilities of chapters officers and boards is to safeguard and protect those funds so they are used for the purposes for which they were raised. A few simple steps taken by chapter officers and members of chapter boards of directors can safeguard those funds and other chapter assets.
TU’s Board of Trustees created a Financial and Property Controls Policy to provide guidance to chapter leaders on how best to protect chapter assets. The policy also establishes and requires the role of Financial Reviewer, described more fully below from the policy.
The best check against the temptation for financial fraud is for more than one chapter officer to review each of the chapter’s bank-account records (including the records of any debit-card and electronic-banking transactions) and the records of any credit-card transactions. Therefore, chapters must provide access to the records of all chapter accounts and all chapter credit cards to one chapter officer – called the Financial Reviewer – who is not authorized to sign checks, otherwise withdraw funds from the accounts, or make charges on a chapter credit card.
That officer could be an assistant treasurer whose sole function is to review the accounts, or it could be an existing officer. That access may be electronic through the relevant financial institution and credit-card company or through hard copies of bank and credit-card statements, but the records reviewed must show the date, amount, and payee of the transactions. Electronic access must not be of the type that gives the reviewing officer the power to withdraw or transfer funds from the chapter’s accounts.
If hard copies of bank or credit-card statements are used, they must be mailed directly from the financial institution or credit-card company to the officer charged with reviewing the records, who can then forward the statements, after review, to the treasurer. The chapter officer charged with reviewing the records of the chapter accounts and credit cards must review those records at least monthly and must report any inappropriate checks, debits, or charges to the chapter’s board of directors.
