Treasurer Concerns

You have two posts on treasurer issues, so I'll address both of them here. In your other post, you asked about using an outside accountant since the last board didn't keep accurate records and the treasurer isn't returning calls or emails. You also said "this is concerning" - ya think????

What administrator privileges are you talking about - the bank account, website account, what? If it's the bank account, you never have just one person in charge. Apparently you don't have any internal controls to prevent waste and fraud, so until that happens, this treasurer absolutely shouldn't have access to it - you need two people to sign off on checks.

I will assume you're self managed, so the board needs to get this treasure in check right now. If your documents state that board members choose officers from among themselves (the homeowners pick the board members), you need to remove this person as treasurer - immediately. Have your association attorney send a letter demanding all records immediately (give him/her a deadline) and if it's not met, legal action will commence.

I would also get an outside accountant to audit your books to the greatest extent he/she can, since you said the records weren't accurate. However, you need to know where you stand with your accounts and vendors. From there, you'll have to move forward, and getting an outside accountant or bookkeeper might be a good idea.

You will also need to sit down with your bank and attorney to come up with some internal controls to ensure this doesn't happen again, such as removing the current (former?) treasurer from the account and requiring two signatures for checks over a certain amount.

If your audit finds someone got money he/she isn't entitled to, your attorney should fire off another letter demanding repayment - and if necessary, go after THEM in court if they can't/refuse to comply. Theft or embezzlement is a real possibility here, so be prepared to file a police report. Financial transparency is vital to any organization, and people have to understand there are severe penalties if they behave otherwise.

Finally the entire board should keep the homeowners informed as to what's going on and how these problems are being addressed. Good luck to you because it sounds like you'll need it

Thanks everyone for the responses. The treasurer finally responded today. I'm sorry I wasn't clear on what I was saying about the administrator. It's the administrator on the bank account. He has the checkbook and pays the bills. But I'm just not comfortable with giving him the administrator options would be a good thing.
The board before didn't use Quickbooks, she said she would do it her way. We finally got her out because she was about to break us. Good gosh it's so hard to get someone out of a position as a home owner.
Honestly this is too much work for a volunteer board. We may have to look into a management company.

Well I'm thinking we would still need a board to watch the management company. But at least it would take some pressure off the board. I was called a "bitch" for putting out the state mandated rules and community rules. What's wrong with people.
Our Predsident is resigning and we are going to have to have a realigning of the board or start looking for options and have an Emergency HOA meeting.
I told the treasurer about not feeling comfortable with signing him over as the administrator and he seemed okay with that.
Thanks for all your advice and help.

Good grief. I will never live in another HOA. Or be on the board again. It's a full time job with no pay.
Thanks for the info.