Treasure Those Treasurers!

A good club treasurer is most certainly an officer to cherish and can be hard to recruit. But the wrong choice can land a club in serious bother, as FRED WRIGHT explains

 

 

- Fred Wright

CLUBS

IT’S the first quarter of the calendar year and AGMs are in season. Many clubs are finding it more and more difficult to persuade people to take on an officer’s job. However, that’s no excuse for putting someone who is totally unsuitable into a role.

For example, a chairman needs some organisational qualities. The club secretary needs to be a communicator, and a treasurer needs to be honest to be able to prepare and keep simple accounts and to be reliable when handling money. However, recently it has come to my attention that a couple of clubs have put themselves into a mess with their financial matters. That means the treasurer is either failing in his or her duties; or perhaps, even more simple than that, the members have failed to put an able and honest person into that treasurer’s position.

A club chairman can make a bit of a mess of things and their club will usually survive, and a secretary might not be great at his or her job, yet the club keeps going and someone will usually help out. However, if the wrong person goes into the treasurer’s role then it can be a couple of years before what is happening fully comes to light.