The Theft Report
April 3rd, 2008 by tsullivanThe hits keep coming… and the need for putting common-sense financial controls in place remains as well as the need for the smart investment in parent group insurance. It’s part of our leadership job to protect these funds. C’mon folks… you can do this. Don’t wait.
Here’s one of our first cases with video. A Kansas City man (and former PTA president) is confronted by a TV reporter about allegations of a $10,000 theft. The frustrating fact here? This man was the successor to another leader who stole. Ugh.
And some more embezzle stories: Maryland PTA treasurer takes $25,000 from her group as part of a larger, $185,000 conviction. Here, it’s nearly $9,000 missing from an Iowa PTA.
Man, I hope that’s it for the month.
April 6th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
It’s a shame that there are individuals out there who are without honor. However, as PTO/PTA board members, we need to serve with honor and conviction. We have to treat the PTO/PTA as a business and incorporate safeguards to reduce the risk of internal theft. Think like an auditor and ask yourself where things could go wrong?
1) Require dual signatures on the checks.
2) Require a financial report at each monthly meeting.
3) Bank statements and vendor invoices should be mailed to the school, never to someone’s personal residence.
4) Periodically conduct a mini audit to verify checkbook reconciliation balance ties to bank statement. Request that the treasurer bring their latest financial report and the latest, original bank statement (never a copy).
5) When receiving/counting incoming fundraiser money, have two non-family members count/log in the funds. Have a form for this that shows the sales dollars at the top, money counted, and hopefully a zero variance. Have all the counters sign their name. Attached the bank deposit receipt to this form and retain by the treasurer.
6) Any payouts should have a check request form completed and signed by a designated PTO officer with receipts/invoices attached.
Unfortunately, to protect the finances, one needs to think how the funds could disappear. Identify the risks and mitigate them with strong internal controls. Everyone will sleep much better. Good luck. It’s not that difficult.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I was the “new” treasurer this year and a successor to a very “old school” board. I worked in the banking industry for many years, and as a fairly new stay at home mom was looking to give back to the community, especially my four children’s schools. The first thing that I did was to put controls into place which happen to be the exact ones that you have recommended on your web site. I also recommended we purchase insurance, which had never even been considered. Little did I know what I was in for…after reviewing previous records & attempting to make head or tails of anything, I found myself at the police department filing charges against our pto president. Long story short, she was involved in many community activities & accounts, and was admitted into an “ARD” program “accelerated rehabilitative” program admitting to no wrong doing with NO arrest record, no admission of guilt etc.
Here I am, after ONE VERY LONG FIRST YEAR, one prosecution and another one in the works, I at least feel as though a lot has been accomplished this year. We now have all of the controls in place that were previously lacking & we are now insured through PTO Today. You positively had the best rates by far.
I only hope that our future board continues the safe guards that were put in place this year to insure no further losses in the future.
Thank you so much for your site & guidance!
Tammy Manjerovic
Treasurer
Mars Elementary PTO