We have two authorized signatures on our account, so that if I (the treasurer) am out of town, the president can write a check. Or, if I were to be hit by a bus, the president could add the new treasurer -- any signatory can add or remove others, without having to convince the bank that some set of minutes are authentic. (Also: our account only requires one signature, but I always have the president sign any reimbursements to me.)

GJ -- You are correct that having two people on the account means that two people could steal out of the account (as opposed to one person).

The PTO has to go the extra step and require that cash withdrawals and checks are signed by both people on the account.

That's the key to protecting the PTO's assets as it's far less likely that two disparate people serving during the same term will conspire to steal together than it is for one person with access to steal alone.

StefaniLyn
I am in the same position you were when you posted these questions. I wondered if you have had any success that you could share with me???1

Hi,
It may be a pain, but I have another suggestion you should consider; especially if you are suspicious of the current Treasurer. At the next board meeting elect a non-signer on your account to open the bank statement each month. When this elected person has reviewed the statement she can then hand it over to the current treasurer. If she sees anything suspicious she should make a copy of the statement and present it to the next board meeting.
By the way....bank statements should go to the school and not an individual's house.
When presenting this idea and all your other ideas....always state this is protection to the PTO/PTA and the Treasurer; especially since your group is not insured or bonded. In all my years I've never had a Treasurer feel threathened by adding additional safety measures as they had nothing to hide. As previously stated, it would be a good idea to get some approved Bylaws, Conflict of Interest Policy, Audit forms, etc. When we started our middle school PTO, I googled middle school PTOs and there was a wealth of group websites that listed their Bylaws on them. I pulled bits and pieces from all over to customize to our group. And it was also enlightening to see what others did. There's some excellant ideas, fundraisers, communication avenues, ect folks do that can give you some wonderful ideas for your group. Good luck and always keep the main reason you're doing this in mind when it gets sticky - your obviously going to all this trouble for the students.

If Bella is OK with you being on the account, then I'd just leave things alone until Roberta passes things on to Bella -- but make sure that happens soon.

Having two people on the account doesn't necessarily make things "safer" -- it means there are now two people with the means to steal money. However, it's probably harder for the president, not having the checkbook most of the time, and since the treasurer (as you say) opens the bank statements and presumably checks them.

In our case, the president is on the account, I'm pretty sure it's in our by-laws, just in case I'm on vacation or out of town when a check needs to be written -- or in case I get hit by a bus. When I was added, the old treasurer and I just showed up at the bank and added me; I added the president later; in both cases, we just showed ID. I'm sure it would be a nuisance to convince the bank to add someone without having an existing signer there to ask that it be done. How does the bank know that those "minutes" are really the approved minutes??

They wouldn't hold you responsible , but they would hold the PTO and if you are not insured, the PTO would have to reimburse that. It does sound suspicious to me however that she is so concerned about you wanting to be on hte checking account... I think you should try and get some by-laws down this year-- including who can sign checks-- maybe 2 signatures are required on a check at all times. Right now it sounds that you might have a few problems to take care of.