Treasurer Policy Procedures 12/15/2014

Purpose

The treasurer of the Triangle OA Intergroup is a board member and the responsibilities are defined in the bylaws. Responsibilities for All Board Members and in Treasurer Responsibilities. The treasurer maintains the checking and savings account for the Intergroup, pays bills, collects mail from the post office box, makes deposits, reimburses costs, reports on the status of the Intergroup's finances and makes recommendations. The treasurer produces a monthly report, a year end report, and a budget for the upcoming year. At the start of the term of treasurer, the current and past treasurer and the current and past vice-chair of the Intergroup go to the bank and complete the paperwork to change signatories. If there are any committee checking accounts, the treasurer becomes the signatory on these accounts. The treasurer is responsible for researching the tax filing requirements for the Triangle OA Intergroup. If necessary an outside consultant may need to be hired to determine the tax filing status and to file taxes if these are outside the skill set of a volunteer Intergroup member.

Email Address

The mailing address for this position is treasurer@triangleoa.org. Click on the following link to learn about setting up and using mailing addresses for this position. Read important information about starting a service position , reporting to Intergroup and leaving a service position Contact the Vice Chair for the pass codes, account numbers, and passwords for protected document resources associated with the treasurer position.

Document Purpose

This document is designed for and by the treasurer for Triangle OA Intergroup and describes the policies and procedures past secretaries used.

The abstinence requirement for the treasurer is contained in Qualifications for Board Members

Budget

The treasurer position could have expenses such as a spreadsheet or money management program, mailing costs, driving costs. Historically treasurers have not requested reimbursement for travel or mailing costs. See the Reimbursement Policy for more information.

Resources

The treasurer has the following resources

A Sample Treasurer's Report December 2014
This sample is a password protected excel spreadsheet in open source xml format.
Tips for OA Group Treasurer's
This document, written by Intergroup for group treasurer's, also contains the address to send money to SOAR and WSO.
Post office Box Key
The post office box is at 350 East Six Forks Road, Suite 150, Raleigh, NC 27609. The postal center is located next to Kroger in a shopping center on the corner of Six Forks and Wake Forest Road. The post office box number is 20356. Mail is address to Triangle Intergroup, PO Box 20356, Raleigh, NC 27619.
Files and File Boxes
There are 2 boxes of files, one with current records, and one with previous records. Triangle OA Intergroup keeps receipts, bills, bank statements and other financial records as required by law. Which is???.
Checks and Deposit Forms
The treasurer has checks to pay bills and deposit forms to record deposits
Stamp Pad and Stamp for incoming checks
The stamp has the name and address of the Triangle OA Intergroup.
EIN
The EIN is an identifying number for an organization and is used by the bank and by the Internal Revenue Service. Ask the vice president for the EIN. Historically the Intergroup has not needed to file taxes.
Bank Accounts
The Intergroup has a checking and a savings account.
EIN.

Links to Support Treasurer's from OA World Service

The following links are from world service

Recommendations for Treasurer

The treasurer distributes the mail as appropriate, paying bills that arrive via the mail, and depositing checks, cash and money orders from the group.

Keeping track of deposits.

The treasurer needs to maintain a record of what group sent how much money, the check or money order, the date received, the date deposited and what deposit chunk it is associated with it. This is useful in case of questions with a member group. The Intergroup requests that groups send the group number assigned by OA World Services along with the deposit. This makes the check easy to associate with the correct group for accounting and reporting purposes. Ideally the group will include the OA group number and the city, day of week and time of day with the check/money order and the treasurer will have a list that matches the information from the group. If the check does not match an existing group, the treasurer may have to call or write the person sending the money to determine the correct group to attribute the money.

Tracking Expenses and reimbursing Intergroup members

It is up to the treasurer to determine how to best track the expenses and produces reports for the Intergroup and to request the Intergroup purchases appropriate software if necessary. The treasurer also monitors the cost of maintaining bank accounts, taking deposits, paying bills, and making reimbursements and makes suggestions to manage Intergroup funds more efficiently and effectively. In 2014, the Intergroup receives cash, money orders and checks from member groups and OA members. In the future the Intergroup may receive money electronically. In 2014, the Intergroup pays some bills via check and some electronically by auto-debit. In the future the Intergroup may pay some bills with a card. The treasurer collects and saves receipts for expenses for as long as required by the Internal Revenue Service. The treasurer brings the Intergroup check book to the monthly meeting to reimburses people. Reimbursements can also be mailed by the treasurer and receipts can be scanned and emailed to the treasurer. The treasurer is also authorized to advance people money for approved Intergroup purchases.

Producing Reports

A report on income, expenses, current checking and savings account amounts is created monthly by the treasurer. It is emailed to the Intergroup mailing address at intergroup@triangleoa.org. Historically ten copies are printed and distributed at Intergroup for review during the treasurers report. The format of the report is determined by the treasurer to most effectively represent the intergroups financial position. In November the treasurer presents the budget for Intergroup for the upcoming year and in December the treasurer presents the end of year report to the Intergroup for the current year. Historically the budget for the upcoming year is based on the actual expenses and incoming from the current year with any known adjustments for increased rent and increased post office charges.

Group Contribution Report

Triangle OA Intergroup has a policy of publishing the list of contributions for each member group four times a year in the newsletter. The treasurer is responsible for mailing the group member contributions to newsletter@triangleoa.org four times a year (April, July, September, December).

Yearly Bills

The following charges are paid yearly:

  1. Website Hosting: A Small Orange XXX, Due: May 2015 Notice is sent to the webmaster and forwarded to the treasurer.
  2. Domain Registration: A Small Orange XXX, Due: XXX Notice is sent to the webmaster and forwarded to the treasurer
  3. Post Office Box. A notice from Postmaster is left in the postoffice box. Due XX
  4. Meeting Place Rent. Community Church of Christ. Due January. Do they send a bill? It has gone up.

Monthly Bills

The following charges are paid monthly:

  1. Newsletter Printing. A Better Image Chapel Hill. They send a bill to post office. Treasurer writes a check
  2. Message Service Itelliverse sends an invoice. The customer service number is 888-554-7835. The website is www.Intelliverse.com. Ask the vice-chair for the account number for Intelliverse. They bill from the 15th to 15th and is one month ahead
  3. This is auto debited from our account
  4. Mailing Newsletter. Receipts for mailing are submitted by the Newsletter_Distribution person each month and reimbursed by the treasurer normally during the Intergroup meeting.

Payment Schedule depends on Schedule of OA, SOAR and Triangle Events

  1. World Service Conference Travel – trip is in April.
  2. SOAR business conference – trips are in March, July and November.
  3. Intergroup events as schedule
  4. Committee expenses - as arranged between committee chair and treasurer

The Intergroup bank accounts are with BB&T.On-line access is www.bbt.com. Ask the vice-chair for the user id, password and account numbers. See the bank's website for locations and contact information.

The prudent reserve is kept in the checking account. It is based on three months expenses. Expenses are Rent and other TBD.

Money to SOAR and WSO is sent when additional money is available. Intergroup has not established guidelines yet for determining at what point, extra money is available

Additional Tasks for the Treasurer

The following tasks are done to maintain the Intergroup's financial records and balance the accounts.

  • Log checks written (check number, to, purpose, date, amount)
  • Save and file bank statements, bills, and receipts
  • Monitor the bank accounts for fraud and identity theft. Compare the accounts to the known expenses and deposits
    • Bank Balance
      the amount in the bank account at the end of the month.
      Running Balance
      The last month's bank statement plus any amounts for deposit that have not been credited by the bank at the time of the report minus any amounts for withdrawal that have not been deducted by the bank at the time of the report.

      Spreadsheet Tips

      Several treasurers have used a spreadsheet program to report on the Intergroup's finances. Some have used programs specifically designed to track income and expenses. The treasurer can use any method that produces a report understandable to the Intergroup and accurate. The following section has tips for using Excel.

      Named Ranges
      To be described.
      Print Selection
      To be described
      Formulas
      To be described

      Suggestions for preparing a budget for the coming year

      Historically, the budget for the coming year is based on the expenses and income for the current year. This is only an estimate. The treasurer is empowered to adjust the budget for the coming year based on expected expenses and income is the current year income and expenses do not accurately reflect the anticipated future.

      Prudent Reserve and Donations to SOAR and WSO

      The Accumulation of Funds clause in the bylaws requires that the Intergroup not "accumulate funds beyond current necessities and a prudent reserve". The Intergroup has not determine how this is determined or what dollar amount represents current necessities and because of this, the Intergroup has not made donations to SOAR and WSO.