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Treasurer, or whoever enters the money

Record a transaction in the books

Enter one payment or deposit, split it across categories if it needs it, attach the receipt in the same submission, and correct it later.

When you are done

You will have one check, card charge, deposit or transfer entered in the register on the date it moved, against a category and a fund, with its receipt attached to it.

Who else you need

Nobody else is needed to record a transaction. Two nearby things do involve somebody else. First, a locked reconciliation: a treasurer locks a month only when the difference against the statement is exactly $0, and after that PTO HQ refuses any edit to the lines ticked inside it. The separate non-signer statement review happens after the lock, and PTO HQ records who signed it. That does not satisfy every bonding condition on its own: some fidelity bond issuers (source: AIM) require the non-signer to physically receive the statement before the treasurer does, which is a human step software can prompt for but cannot perform. Second, your role: a view-only or auditor role has to be changed by a treasurer or president before you can record anything.

Open the record form on the register

  1. Open Register from the sidebar.

  2. Find the form for a new entry, above the list of lines.

    It renders only when all five of the conditions below are true at once. When one is missing the form is simply absent, and the page does not always say which.

The five things the record form is behindThe form for a new entry renders only when all five are true at once: the board has at least one account, at least one category and at least one fund, your role can write to the books, and the subscription is current. Only the missing-account case explains itself — the page offers a link to add the first account. A missing category or fund removes the form with nothing on the page saying why, and a lapsed subscription shows a read-only banner instead.At least one accountAt least one categoryAt least one fundYour role can write to the booksThe subscription is currentRecord a transactionDateTodayAmountCategory and fundFrom your listsRecord transactionIf one of the five is missingNo account: the page offers a link to add the first one.No category or no fund: the form is absent, and nothing says why.Your role cannot write: the form is absent in the same way.Subscription lapsed: a banner links to setting one up.

Use the date the money moved

PTO HQ records on a cash basis, which means an entry exists on the day cash changed hands. This isn't legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm filing dates, bonding conditions, and your state's requirements with your CPA, your state PTA, and your insurer, including whether your board should report on a cash basis.

  1. Enter the date the money left or reached the bank.

    Not the date on the invoice. A bill dated the 3rd and paid on the 28th is a transaction on the 28th.

  2. Change the date when you are catching up on something older.

    The box opens on today.

Two dates on one bill, and only one of them is the transactionA bill dated the 3rd and paid on the 28th is a transaction on the 28th. PTO HQ records on a cash basis, so the register entry carries the date the money actually left or reached the bank, and nothing is in the books on the invoice date. The date box opens on today, so change it when you are catching up on something older.Two dates on one bill. Only one is the transaction.Bill dated the 3rdPaid on the 28thNothing in the booksRegister entry, the 28thThe date box opens on today, so change it when you are catching up.Cash basis: an entry exists on the day cash changed hands.

Choose the direction instead of typing a minus sign

  1. Pick money out, money in, or a transfer between two of your own accounts.

    The direction stays set, and the rest of the form changes with it.

  2. Type the amount as a plain figure, such as 125.50.

    PTO HQ applies the sign on submit and strips a leading minus sign you type, so the direction decides it rather than the character.

  3. For money out or money in, fill in who you paid or where the money came from, the account it moved through, a category and a fund.

    A check number, a memo and a receipt are optional, and the form marks each optional box as optional.

  4. For a transfer, choose the account the money left and the account it reached.

    A transfer hides the category and the fund. PTO HQ posts it against the board's transfer category and an unrestricted fund itself, and writes two lines, one on each account.

The direction sets the sign and rewrites the formMoney out, money in and transfer are a control rather than a minus sign: you type the amount as a plain figure such as 125.50 and PTO HQ applies the sign on submit, stripping a leading minus you type. Money out and money in ask who you paid or where the money came from, an account, a category and a fund. A transfer asks for two accounts instead, hides the category and the fund because PTO HQ posts it against the board's transfer category and an unrestricted fund, and writes two lines rather than one. The check number and receipt boxes still render on a transfer and neither is saved: the file is dropped and the confirmation never mentions it, so record a transfer with neither.Money outMoney inTransferThe one you pick stays set.You type125.50The direction sets the signA leading minus sign you type is stripped — the control wins.The rest of the form changes with itMoney outPaid toAccountCategoryFundMoney inReceived fromAccountCategoryFundTransferFrom accountTo accountCategoryFundA transfer keeps the date and the memo. PTO HQ posts it against the board'stransfer category and an unrestricted fund, and writes two lines, one per account.Two boxes still render on a transfer, and neither is savedCheck number: droppedReceipt: dropped in silenceRecord a transfer with neither, or record the two legs as ordinary entries.

Name the vendor when you are paying a business

Money-out entries offer a vendor box once your board keeps a vendor list.

  1. Choose the business you paid from the vendor box.

    The payment is attributed to that vendor as a record, rather than matched later against a typed name.

  2. For a one-off payee you are not going to set up, choose the option meaning the payee is not one of your vendors.

    That stops your choice being overwritten when PTO HQ matches the name you type.

  3. Record the payment, then chase the W-9 if a warning names a vendor without one.

    The warning states that $600 or more for services in a calendar year needs a 1099-NEC and that the payee copy is due January 31 (source: IRS, Form 1099-NEC instructions). It offers to print a W-9 request for that vendor.

  • PTO HQ cannot tell from the entry whether that payee is incorporated, or whether you bought goods rather than services. Confirm both before you file.
What each vendor choice recordsThe vendor box appears on money-out entries once your board keeps a vendor list. Leaving it at Not recorded means the payment is matched against the vendor list by the name you typed, which the 1099 report treats as a guess; choosing a vendor attributes the payment to that vendor as a record; and choosing Not one of our vendors is a deliberate no that is not overwritten when PTO HQ matches the name. If the payee is on the list with no W-9, a warning names that vendor and offers a W-9 request, but it never blocks the entry.The vendor box, and what each choice recordsMoney out only, and only once your board keeps a vendor list.Not recordedMatched by name later: a guessA vendor from the listAttributed to that vendorNot one of our vendorsYour choice, not overwrittenOn the list with no W-9: a warning names that vendor and offers toprint a W-9 request. $600 or more for services in a calendar yearneeds a 1099-NEC, and the payee copy is due January 31.It warns. It never blocks the entry — record the payment, then chase the W-9.

Split one payment across categories

A worked example: a $340.00 check that was part book fair and part membership dues becomes two lines. Enter $210.00 on the first and the counter says $130.00 is left to allocate; enter $130.00 on the second and it reads balanced. One transaction can carry up to 50 lines.

  1. Switch the single category box to a split, using the small control beside its label.

    Each split line then takes a category, a fund and an unsigned amount.

  2. Enter an amount on each line until the counter beside the split reads balanced.

    Once the amount box holds a figure PTO HQ can read, the counter says how much is left to allocate, how much the lines are over, or that they balance. Anything other than balanced is shown in the warning color.

  3. Remove a line you changed your mind about with the control at its end.

    A line typed as 0.00 is skipped, but a line left empty is refused. The remove control is disabled while only one line is left; leave the split editor instead.

One check, split across two categoriesA $340.00 check that was part book fair and part membership dues is one transaction with two lines. As each amount is entered the remainder counts down — $340.00, then $130.00 left to allocate — and when it reaches zero it reads Balanced and the transaction can be saved. The lines must add up to the total exactly.One check$340.00Fall book fair$210.00Membership dues$130.00Left to allocate$340.00$130.00BalancedRecord itUp to fifty lines. They must come to the total exactly.

Attach the receipt in the same submission

  1. Attach the receipt on this form before you submit.

    This form is the only screen in PTO HQ that puts a receipt on a transaction. The edit screen has no receipt box, and no other screen adds one afterward.

  2. Check the file before you submit.

    No screen takes a receipt back off a transaction once it is attached.

  • A board is generally expected to keep receipts for seven years, and to keep minutes and the IRS determination letter permanently.
  • Your state PTA or your own bylaws may set a longer period than seven years. Check both before anything is destroyed, and keep to the longer of the two.
Accepted
FormatsJPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, PDF
Largest file10 MB
What the receipt box accepts. A phone photograph of a receipt is typically 2 to 5 MB.
One door in, and none back outThe record form is the only screen in PTO HQ that puts a receipt on a transaction: attach the photo or PDF, up to 10 MB in JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC or PDF, before you submit. The edit screen has no receipt box, no other screen adds one to an entry afterward, and no screen takes a receipt back off a transaction once it is attached, so check the file before you submit.One door inRecord a transactionReceipt (optional)A photo or a PDF, 10 MBJPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC or PDFon submitReceipt on the transactionThe only screen that does this.No other door, in or outThe edit screen has no receipt boxNo screen takes a receipt off a transaction afterwardCheck the file before you submit. A phone photo is typically 2 to 5 MB.

Split off money you are holding for somebody else

Some of what lands in your account was never yours. The clearest case is sales tax: if your state charges it on merchandise and your unit sells spirit wear outside a tax-free day, the tax arrives with the sale and belongs to the state from the moment the card clears.

  1. Open a category of the money-you-owe kind on the chart of accounts, once, and name it for what you are holding.

  2. Split it off each sale as you record it: the unit's own price on one line, the tax on the other.

    A $412.18 card sale of spirit wear at 8.25% is two lines: $380.77 to spirit wear and $31.41 to sales tax collected. The whole $412.18 reached the bank and the account balance is the same either way. What changed is that $31.41 of it is now visibly not yours to spend.

  3. When you pay it over, record the payment against the same category.

    The balance goes back down, and the balance sheet shows what is left owing.

  • Money you are holding is not income, so it stays off the income statement, off the budget and off Form 990.
  • That last one has teeth: gross receipts decide whether your unit files a 990-N, a 990-EZ or the full 990, and counting tax you collected for the state as your own revenue pushes that figure up for no reason.
  • Whether your state taxes what your unit sells, and whether your tax-free days cover it, is a question for your state PTA or your state comptroller. PTO HQ records what you tell it and works out none of that for you.

Correct a line later

  1. Open the row from the control in its narrow first column.

    The edit screen comes up with every field filled in, including each split line.

  2. Change what was wrong and save.

    PTO HQ returns you to the register. Split lines still have to balance before it will save, and the edit screen can add and remove lines but cannot start or end a split.

  3. To remove an entry that should never have existed, delete it from the bottom of the edit screen and confirm.

  • The edit screen has no receipt box. A receipt cannot be added to an entry, or taken off one, from there.
  • Some edits and deletions are refused on purpose. The table under If it did not work says what to do about each.
Where the edit control is, and what it stops short ofEvery register row opens for editing from the control in its narrow first column, and the edit screen comes up with every field already filled in, including each split line. It can change the date, payee, amount, account, category and fund and can add or remove split lines, which still have to balance, but it cannot attach or remove a receipt and cannot start or end a split. Saving returns you to the register; deleting sits at the bottom of the edit screen and is refused while a receipt is attached.Every row opens from its narrow first column✎Date · Payee · Amount · Category · Fund · Status · ReceiptEdit screenDateAmountPayeeAccountEvery split line, filled inFrom here you cannotAdd or remove a receiptStart or end a splitIt can add and remove split lines.They still have to balance.Save, and back to the registerDelete it, and confirmThe row shows the figures you just saved.Refused while a receipt is attached:Remove the receipt from thistransaction first.

How to check it worked

  • A confirmation line appears under the form, and the new row is in the register at the date you gave, marked as uncleared.
  • The payee box clears, and so does everything the browser owns: the date returns to today, and the check number, memo, receipt, account, category and fund go back to their starting values. The amount you typed stays, so clear it before the next entry.
  • If you were splitting, the editor stays open and each line keeps the amount you typed, but the category and the fund on every line revert to the first choice in the list. Set them again, or leave the split editor.
  • A split entry shows each category with its amount in the row's category cell.
  • A transfer produces two rows, not one: one on the account the money left and one on the account it reached.
  • After an edit, PTO HQ returns you to the register and the row shows the figures you just saved.
  • The receipt column on that row offers to open the file you attached.

If it did not work

What you seeWhat it meansWhat to do
A refusal beginning "That is part of the reconciliation locked for" and naming the statement date.That line was ticked into a reconciliation a treasurer locked at a difference of exactly $0. PTO HQ refuses to change or delete it so the books and the signed statement cannot drift apart.Only four fields are frozen: the date, the amount, who it was paid to, and the account. The category, the fund, the memo, the check number and how the entry is split still edit normally, and the refusal names which field stopped it. If one of the frozen four is what is wrong, record the correction as a new entry dated in a month that is not locked. Lines dated inside that month but never ticked into the reconciliation are still editable.
"Remove the receipt from this transaction first."The entry has a receipt attached, and deleting the entry would leave the file with nothing pointing at it.No screen in PTO HQ removes a receipt from a transaction, so the entry cannot be deleted through the app while the receipt is on it. Correct it on the edit screen and save instead.
You deleted a line that came from the bank feed and it is gone from the register.The money really did move, so PTO HQ sent that line back to the review queue instead of destroying it.Nothing is lost. Open the banks and import page and categorize the line again from the queue of lines waiting to be reviewed.
The split is refused because the lines do not add up, or a line has no amount, no category or no fund.The message names the difference, or names the line that is missing a part.Adjust one line by exactly the difference named until the counter beside the split says the lines balance, or fill in the line it names. A line you no longer want goes away with the remove control at its end, not by clearing it.
The split is refused as incomplete after you removed a row.The rows reached the server with different numbers of categories, funds and amounts, which happens when a row is half removed.Leave the split editor, start the split again, and re-enter the lines.
The split is refused for having more than 50 lines.One entry cannot carry more than 50 split lines.Combine lines that share a category and a fund, or record the payment as more than one transaction.
"Choose two different accounts."The account the money leaves and the account it reaches are the same, so the transfer would move money to itself.Change one of the two, then submit again.
"This organization has no transfer category. Add one on the chart of accounts."A transfer is posted against a category of the transfer kind, and your board has none.Open the chart of accounts, add a category of the transfer kind, then record the transfer again.
The receipt is refused as too large, as not a photo or a PDF, or because its contents do not match its type.PTO HQ reads the file's own bytes as well as its name. The limit is 10 MB, and the formats are JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and PDF.Photograph the receipt with your phone instead of scanning it, or open the file and export it again as a PDF or a JPEG, then record the transaction with the new copy.
"The transaction was recorded, but the receipt was not attached" followed by a reason.The money is in the books and the file is not. The entry itself is safe and correct.No screen attaches a receipt to an entry that already exists. Fix the file for the reason given, delete the receiptless entry from its edit screen, and record it again with the file. A line that came from the bank feed returns to the review queue rather than being destroyed.
"Your role is view only. Ask the treasurer or president to change your role if you need to record things."Your board account cannot write to the books.Ask a treasurer or president to change your role, or send them the entry to record.
"An auditor reviews the books and does not change them. Ask the treasurer or another officer to record this."The auditor role is read-only by design, so the person checking the books is not also writing them.Send the entry to the treasurer or another officer. An auditor keeps one write: signing off a non-signer statement review on Reconcile. That records who reviewed the statement; it does not satisfy every bonding condition on its own, because some fidelity bond issuers (source: AIM) require the non-signer to physically receive the statement before the treasurer does.
There is no form for a new entry on the register page.The board has no account, no category or no fund yet, your role cannot write to the books, or the books are read-only because the subscription lapsed.Add a bank account on the banks and import page, categories on the chart of accounts and funds on the funds page. If a banner says the books are read-only, ask whoever handles the board's billing to set up the subscription.

This isn't legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm filing dates, bonding conditions, and your state's requirements with your CPA, your state PTA, and your insurer.