Laqfiz

What a community treasurer actually has to do

Treasurer is the least wanted and most consequential role in any community, and it is usually handed over with no instructions at all.

Short answer. A treasurer records what comes in, records what goes out with bills attached, publishes the balance monthly, and hands over a complete history to their successor. Two rules protect them: never be the only person who can see the record, and never approve their own spending alone.

The monthly job

  1. Send the reminder before the due date.
  2. Record and confirm every payment that arrives, that week.
  3. Record every expense with its bill.
  4. Check the record against the actual account.
  5. Publish: collected, spent, balance.

Done as a routine this is under an hour a month for most communities. Done reactively it is a permanent low-level burden.

The two rules

Never be the only one who can see it

A record only the treasurer can read makes them a single point of failure and the only possible suspect. A second admin, or a record every member can read, removes both problems at once.

Never approve your own spending alone

Not because treasurers are dishonest — overwhelmingly they are not — but because the arrangement should not require anyone to take that on trust.

Handing over

  1. Add the incoming treasurer while you are still in post.
  2. Overlap for a month, so they see a full cycle.
  3. Publish a closing statement: balance, what is outstanding, what is committed.
  4. Step yourself down. Do not delete anything.

A handover that transfers the balance but not the history leaves the new treasurer unable to answer any question about anything that happened before them — which is most of the questions they will get.

Common questions

Should the treasurer hold the money personally?

Avoid it where possible. Where it cannot be avoided, the record must show every rupee in and out, published monthly, and a second person should have visibility.

How long should a treasurer serve?

Long enough to be good at it, short enough that the role is clearly the community's rather than the person's. Two years is a common settlement, with a handover overlap.

Laqfiz is free, and runs in your browser Start a community, invite the people in it, and every payment leaves a receipt everyone can see. No card, no download unless you want one.

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