Role of the President
The President is elected at the P&C Association's Annual General Meeting.
Duties
The President is responsible for:
• The successful functioning of the P&C Association meetings
• The attainment of the P&C Association's objectives
• Ensuring that the P&C Association takes part in decision-making processes in the school
• Fostering fair participation of all members and ensuring that all new members are made to feel welcome
• Supporting volunteers
• Consistent adherence to the constitution
• Acting as the P&C Association's spokesperson when public statements or actions are needed
• Setting up lines of communication with the Principal
• Being signatory on the Association's bank accounts
• Chairing meetings, in the absence of the President, one of the Vice-Presidents will chair the meeting or the meeting can elect a chairperson from the members present for that meeting.
Voting
The President is entitled to the same voting rights as any member. However, a President, when in the Chair, often abstains from voting in order to preserve the impartiality of the position.
The person chairing a meeting does not have a casting vote in the event of a tied vote. In the event of a tied vote, the motion should be lost.
Sub-committees
The President is automatically a member of all P&C sub-committees. The President should be informed of all subcommittee meetings and decisions, this would occur through written report.
An experienced President gives opportunities to the Vice-Presidents to develop their skills in chairing meetings. Federation recommends that a vice-president be delegated to chair part of a meeting. The training process could also include delegating the responsibility of sub-committee leadership to vice-presidents.
The President also has important responsibilities outside of meetings and is looked to as a leader of the parent community.
The President does not make unilateral decisions and should be mindful that all public statements accurately represent the views of the association.
Role Of The Secretary
The Secretary is responsible for carrying out the administrative tasks related to the decisions of the meetings as resolved. The Secretary prepares, in consultation with the President, all meeting agendas.
The Secretary is required to attend P&C Association meetings and take notes of the discussions in order to produce a set of Minutes for subsequent distribution to members and for receipt, possible amendment and adoption at the following meeting. (In the absence of the Secretary the meeting should elect a person to take the Minutes, this person should be identified in the Minutes.) Further, the position includes receiving and tabling all correspondence as well as writing and dispatching outgoing correspondence as resolved/appropriate. The Secretary also issues notice of all meetings and maintains official records of the P&C Association such as the constitution, by-laws, rules of subcommittees, Incorporation Certificate, ABN details, list of financial (voting) members, Minutes, Attendance book.
Notice of Meeting
P&C Constitution by-laws state that P&C Associations meet on a regular day each month 'during term time' at the school. Secretaries may use the P&C newsletter, school newsletter/website, school sign, or other means to promote meetings. Motions on Notice, issues and events to be discussed should be advertised along with names of guest speakers.
Agenda
An agenda is a list of items of business to be considered at a meeting. An Agenda should include the name of the organisation, the type of meeting (e.g. Annual General Meeting, General or special meeting); where the meeting will be held; the date the meeting will be held and time the meeting will commence. An Agenda should contain the following;
1. Welcome and formal opening of meeting
2. Apologies
3. Minutes of the previous meeting (Receipt/Amendments/Adoption)
4. Business arising from the previous meeting Minutes
5. Correspondence
6. Reports:
• President's report
• Treasurer's report
• Sub-committee reports
• Principal's report
7. General Business
8. Close
An agenda for Annual General Meetings will be similar to the above with the inclusion of items that only occur at an AGM such as election of Officers and Executive, appointment of the Auditor, membership fees, by-law changes etc.
If you require further information or clarification contact P&C Federation's Member Services Team
mail@pandc.org.au or 1300 885 982
Role Of The Treasurer
Whilst all P&C members must be mindful of complying with financial accountability requirements, this is the Treasurer's primary responsibility. The Treasurer receives and deposits monies, maintains records, draws cheques* and presents accounts.
The Treasurer also ensures that all funds held and handled by P&C are properly and openly accounted for as the Treasurer is responsible for all funds held in the name of the P&C Association. This includes all P&C Association committees. This does not mean that the Treasurer must undertake the actual bookkeeping themselves but they must ensure that the various sub-committee financial records have been kept to the Treasurer's satisfaction. The Treasurer is a signatory on the P&C accounts and should not delegate this responsibility.
The Treasurer should encourage members to understand the state of the P&C Association finances. The Treasurer must ensure a case book or books are kept, recording all financial transactions of the P&C Association.
Planning, budgeting and cash flow
A budget is a planning document to estimate the income and expenditure of the organisation for a given period (usually the financial year of the P&C Association). The budget is a statement of intention rather than of fact and can be altered at any time, with due notice given by way of the Agenda, by majority vote, after its initial ratification at a general or special meeting.
Budget estimates are founded on past economic performance, adjusted to anticipate the probable effect any special projects or one-off events. Once the overall budget has been approved, it is helpful to break the budget estimates with actual income and expenditure levels at regular interval throughout the year. This comparison allows the Treasurer to recommend changes to the budget so that it more accurately reflects the real financial situation of the P&C association. These changes, in turn, allow the association to amend its fundraising or expenditure plans for the year.
Note: The P&C Association budget is separate from the school's budget.
Surplus funds
The Treasurer makes recommendations about surplus funds. Surplus funds may be lodged as term deposits with any financial institution that has full trustee status.
Audit
The financial accounts of the P&C Association must be submitted to an independent audit each year.
The Treasurer produces a full statement of financial position declaring all funds held in the name of the P&C Association, including those of sub-committees, along with the Secretary who presents the Minute book of the same period to the Auditor. After completion of the audit the financial statements, with all signed certificates appended, are to be presented at the Annual General Meeting for approval and adoption.
Appointing an auditor
You must appoint the auditor at the P&C Association's Annual General Meeting.
The auditor does not need to be a qualified professional. The auditor must possess appropriate skills and experience in auditing and financial record management together with an appreciation of the issues of probity as they relate to the role of association auditor. The auditor must not have or appear to have any conflict of interest arising, for example, from a personal or business relationship with an Officer of the association and must be prepared to swear that the records are a true and correct statement of the information provided by the Treasurer.
To meet reporting requirements under their Prescribed Constitution, the Treasurer of incorporated associations should ensure that copies of the audited accounts, signed by the President and Treasurer, are forwarded to the Federation of P&C Associations of NSW within one month of the AGM at which they were presented. By undertaking to send the records to P&C Federation the need for incorporated P&C Associations to publicly record their financial statements is fulfilled.
The Treasurer is responsible for the handing over of all financial records to the incoming Treasurer should the Annual General Meeting result in a new Treasurer being elected.
There are many useful conventions which should be followed when dealing in financial matters and the role of the Treasurer will be made easier if all P&C members appreciate and understand that rules and protocols are to be complied with.
Proper accounting procedures have two purposes:
(i) They prevent loss and fraud. You might trust everyone in your association, but accounting procedures will tell you if the wrong thing is happening and where.
(ii) To protect the P&C Association Executive. Good accounting of P&C funds ensures financial propriety.
Cheques
Never sign blank cheques.
Ensure that the P&C Association has resolved to expend the monies before drawing a cheque. No motion, no payment.
Do not make cheques out to cash.
Ensure all cheques are marked 'Not Negotiable'
Cheque signatories should sight all supporting documents; ensure they are correctly drawn to the payee and there is agreement between the amount on the invoice and the amount on the cheque before signing cheques.
Monitor that payment are approved for appropriate purposes.
Two members of the same family should not, as a general rule, act as signatories.
Where possible, cheque signatories should not counter-sign a cheque drawn in their favour.
The school Principal should not be a signatory to P&C bank accounts.
Employees of the association should not be a signatory to the association or sub-committee bank accounts.
Payments
All accounts should be paid by cheque, expect for small payments from petty cash.
Support all payments with invoices, receipts or dockets.
Mark all paid invoices with a "paid" stamp and cheque number.
Receipts
Issues receipts in sequential date order as per takings.
Ensure two independent people are responsible for collecting and counting money. Likewise, at the end of the collection period, counting should occur in the company of at least two members and the amount verified, in writing, by each member involved in the count.
Issue receipts to people responsible for collecting and counting money.
Banking
Check that the amount banked corresponds with the receipt totals.
Bank money daily or secure in a fireproof safe if you are not able to bank on the day. (Your cash may not be insured if you do not make an effort to secure it adequately.)
Cash books (computerised bookkeeping package or manual)
Keep cash books up to date. The cash book should be totalled and balanced at the end of each month.
Match the sequence of entries in the cash book with the sequence of receipts and cheque payments.
Figures must never be erased with white-out. If you make an error in your cash book, receipt book or cheque butts, rule a line through the incorrect figure and write the correct figure next to it.
Reporting
The Treasurer must present a report in the form of an income and expenditure statement together with a reconciled bank statement for each and every P&C meeting. Where a Treasurer is not able to attend a meeting the Treasurer's Report should be provided to the President prior to the meeting for tabling to the members.
Note that references to cheque also include electronic banking.