Outgoing or incoming treasurer or president

Hand the books over before the old treasurer's access outlives the office

Build the handoff list, print the bank packet, close the books to the signer change date, and leave next year's board the files it needs.

When you are done

You will have a dated handoff list with an owner on every line, a printed bank packet for the branch visit, a reconciliation locked to the date the signers change with a recorded non-signer review, two people who can get into every outside account, and an export pack the incoming treasurer can open without asking anyone for it.

Who else you need

Four other people. The incoming officers go to the bank branch with you, because a bank changes a signature card at the counter with photo ID and does not change it because software says so. A board member who does not sign checks reviews the bank statement and signs for it, and receives it from the bank before the treasurer does, which PTO HQ can prompt but cannot perform. The incoming treasurer or president removes you from PTO HQ, because PTO HQ refuses to let you remove yourself. Your bank's business banking team removes the outgoing officers' online access, because changing a password does not end their access.

Start the handoff list in May, while the outgoing officers still answer email

Open the handoff page from the app menu.
It counts the tasks still open, the outside accounts only one person can get into, and the people currently marked as check signers. Only a treasurer or a president can change it.
Put the branch visit on the list first, owned by the president, dated before July 1.
Signing authority does not end until the bank changes the card, so work the rest of the list around that date.
Add each remaining task with a name, the board role responsible, a due date and any detail.
PTO HQ refuses a task with no name or no date. A task past its date is flagged as overdue.
Set each row's status as work moves.
Marking one done records who did it and when, so the board can tell a plan from a thing that happened.

Change the bank signature card
Get a second admin on every outside account
Close the books and assemble the review packet
Adopt a summer spending budget before the last spring meeting ends
Write the event playbooks while the chairs still remember

Print the bank packet before anyone drives to the branch

Print the signer change checklist and bank packet from the forms area.
It prints blank, to be filled in on the way, and it lists what the counter will ask for.
Call the branch first and read the list to them.
Banks differ, and this trip is usually made twice, once to find out and once with the paperwork.
Include the savings account nobody uses.
The form lists your accounts from the books. A dormant account keeps a former signer on it until somebody removes them at the branch.

EIN confirmation letter - the IRS CP-575 or a 147C letter; the number alone is usually not enough
Bylaws excerpt naming which officers sign and how many signatures a check requires
Minutes extract naming the elected officers, signed by the secretary, with the offices and the date of the vote
The bank's own banking resolution or signature card, signed at the branch by everyone being added
Unexpired government photo ID for every officer being added or removed; some banks also ask each signer for a Social Security number
The IRS determination letter, asked for more often when the account is restructured rather than amended

Close the books to the date the signers change, then record the non-signer review

A change of signers triggers a reconciliation (source: Texas PTA and Florida PTA, both named on PTO HQ's own signer change checklist).

In Reconcile, enter the statement closing date and the closing balance exactly as the statement shows them.
Tick what the bank has seen, and lock the month.
A reconciliation will not lock until the difference against the statement is exactly $0. With any difference left, PTO HQ names the amount and refuses: "A reconciliation locks at zero and only at zero".
Pick a reviewer: any active board member who neither signs checks nor is related to a signer.
Role does not matter, and the list you pick from offers exactly those people.
Arrange the mail or the inbox so the reviewer gets the statement before the treasurer does.
Some fidelity bond issuers (source: AIM) require the non-signer to physically receive the bank statement first. That is a human action PTO HQ can prompt and record but cannot perform, so PTO HQ does not satisfy every external bonding condition on its own.
On the review form, pick the statement period, the reviewer and the date the review was signed, and tick the attestation.
The attestation is that the reviewer received the statement independently of the signers and signs no checks on any account. The closing balance and any flagged items are optional.

The locked reconciliation fixes the balance each account carried on the change date, so the incoming treasurer starts from a figure the bank has already agreed to.
Without the attestation PTO HQ refuses: "The reviewer has to attest that they do not sign checks. Without that, this is not the review the bond condition asks for."
Who types the review in is a separate question from who reviewed. A viewer cannot record one — PTO HQ answers "Your role is view only, so you cannot sign off a statement review." The usual arrangement is that the reviewer signs on paper and the treasurer enters it, and the audit row names both people.
If nobody on the board is eligible, PTO HQ does not offer the form at all. It explains that every active officer either signs checks or is related to somebody who does, and it will not offer you a signer instead. Take a signer off the bank account, or ask a member who holds no signing authority — a past officer, or a member the board appoints to review — to receive the statement and sign the paper form.

End the outgoing treasurer's ability to spend on the day the office ends

Officers are elected in the spring, the new year starts July 1, and somebody reaches the branch in August. For those months the person who no longer holds the office still holds live signing rights. Each line below is a separate route money can still take, and the branch visit closes only one of them.

Work the list below on the same day as the branch visit, not after it.

Online banking credentials rotated - new username and password for the incoming officers, and the outgoing officers' access removed by the bank, not merely a changed password
Two-factor phone numbers and email changed - a code going to a phone that left with the outgoing treasurer means the account is still theirs
Debit and credit cards canceled with the bank first, then cut up; a returned card is not a canceled card
Statement delivery redirected to the organization's own address and email, never a personal inbox
Stored payment methods updated everywhere a card or bank account is saved: Square, PayPal, Stripe, Amazon, the print shop, the insurance autopay
Unused check stock transferred and counted in front of both officers, with the first and last check numbers written down
Deposit stamp, deposit slips, bank key and any safe deposit box key handed over, with the box access list

Record two admins on every account the PTO does not host

List every outside account with its kind and everyone who can get in, one name per line.
The bank, the payment processor, the Facebook page, the domain, the shared email address, a vendor portal.
Confirm with your own eyes that each name still gets in, then mark the account checked.
PTO HQ refuses to record that check with fewer than two names: "List at least two people who can get into this account before marking it checked." A row with one name is flagged, and a banner counts how many accounts are in that state.
Work the list until the handoff page counts zero accounts with a single admin.
An account with one name on it is recoverable only by that person, and the platform holding it will talk to nobody else.

Write up each event while the chair still remembers it

Record each event's date, what it took in, what it cost, how many volunteers it needed, and what to change next time.
PTO HQ refuses a write-up with no event name, no date, or a negative amount.
Record the vendors and what they charged.
Tick the budget categories the event's money moved through.
Nothing on a transaction says which fundraiser it came from, so this is what lets the reports answer whether the event made money. Choose from your own organization's categories.

Next year's chair reads the write-up to set the ticket price, book the same vendors at the same charges, and recruit the number of volunteers the event actually took.

Hand over PTO HQ access last, and move the bank feed with it

In settings, invite the incoming officers by email address and set the role each will hold.
Mark as check signers only the people the bank will actually put on the card.
Leave at least one board member unmarked and unrelated to a signer, because that is who the statement review needs.
Let the incoming treasurer or president remove you.
Removing yourself is refused: "You cannot remove yourself." So is any removal or role change that would empty both offices: "That would leave this organization with no treasurer and no president, and nobody able to add one."
Have the incoming treasurer reconnect the bank account after the online banking logins are rotated.
A connection is tied to the credentials that created it, so rotating them stops the feed. Reconnect from the page where banks are connected and statement files imported.
If the board is moving to a different bank, disconnect the old account first.
Connecting over it is refused: "That account is already connected. Disconnect it first if you are moving banks."

A removed officer's name stays resolvable in the audit history, so a reimbursement they approved in October still names them in June.
A connected account syncs nightly, and PTO HQ also imports CSV, OFX, QFX and QBO statement files if your bank is not connected or you would rather not connect it. Connecting and disconnecting are treasurer and president work; any other role is refused.

Leave the files, and name an owner for the annual return

From the handoff page, download the register export and the treasurer's report.
Settings adds the three-column checking export the review committee asks for.
Print the treasurer turnover packet from Reports.
It lists accounts and signers, the outside logins with the single-admin ones first, any reconciliation still open, the document inventory with its retention, and what on the handoff list is still overdue.
Carry restricted fund balances into the next fiscal year rather than zeroing them.
A donor-restricted gift cannot be redirected without donor notice and a refund offer, and restricted balances survive the fiscal-year rollover (source: PTO HQ's restricted and designated funds report, which states the basis on the report itself). Confirm your own restrictions against the gift documentation in the Records vault.
Put the annual return on the handoff list with a named owner, the same as the branch visit.
Each treasurer in a turnover tends to assume the last one filed.
Run the 990-N readiness report.
It shows the filing date computed from your fiscal year end and the gross receipts figure that decides which form you file. Confirm the specific form and any state filing with your CPA and your state PTA.

Form 990 is due the 15th day of the 5th month after the fiscal year ends, so a June 30 year end means November 15 (source: IRS). Three consecutive missed required filings revoke exempt status automatically (source: IRS).
Keep receipts seven years, and keep minutes and the IRS determination letter permanently (source: National PTA records retention schedule; Texas PTA requires the board to review the policy annually). Store them in the Records vault rather than on a personal laptop, so the records do not leave with the person who kept them.
Your state PTA sets its own year-end report and dues remittance dates, and your insurer sets the conditions on your bond. Both vary by state and by policy, so take them from your state PTA and your insurer rather than from this page, and put the dates on the compliance calendar before you hand over.

How to check it worked

The handoff page shows no open task past its date, and every finished task names who finished it and on what date.
The handoff page counts zero accounts with a single admin, and every outside account lists two or more people plus the date you checked them.
The reconciliation covering the signer change date is locked, with no difference outstanding.
A statement review is recorded for each account for that period, naming the reviewer, and no account is shown as behind.
The check-signer count names only the incoming officers. That count is built from the signer boxes in settings, not from the bank's signature card - only the bank's written confirmation verifies the card, so keep the branch task open until it arrives.
The officer list in settings shows the incoming officers in their roles, and the outgoing officer is gone from it.
Each connected account shows a recent sync under the incoming treasurer, or an imported statement file covers the same period.
Every event from the year has a write-up with its money, its volunteer count and at least one budget category ticked.
The register, checking and treasurer's report exports all download, and the turnover packet prints with no single-admin account and no open reconciliation.

If it did not work

What you see	What it means	What to do
"Only a treasurer or president can change the handover."	Your role is not treasurer or president, so you can read the handoff page and not edit it.	Ask a current treasurer or president to change your role in settings, or to make the edit while you are on the phone with them.
The handoff page opens but nothing on it saves, and PTO HQ says the books are read-only.	The organization's subscription has lapsed, so the books are read-only regardless of your role.	Follow the subscription link in the banner, or open the billing page and renew. The handoff data is all still there and becomes editable again once the subscription is active.
"A reconciliation locks at zero and only at zero"	The register and the statement disagree, so the books cannot be closed to the signer change date yet.	Look for a transaction that never reached the register, a deposit split across two statement lines, and anything ticked as cleared that the bank has not actually seen. Fix the register, not the statement.
"The reviewer has to attest that they do not sign checks. Without that, this is not the review the bond condition asks for."	You filled the review form but left the attestation unticked, so nothing was saved.	Read the attestation sentence back to the reviewer, tick it once they confirm it is true of them, and save again. If the reviewer did not receive the statement independently of the signers, do not tick it - arrange the delivery first.
"signs checks, so they cannot be the non-signer who reviews the statement" or "who signs checks, so they cannot review this statement"	The person you named either signs checks or is recorded as sharing a household with somebody who does, so they are not independent.	Pick another name from the list the form offers; it already excludes signers and anybody related to one. Role does not matter - an auditor or a viewer is eligible to be the named reviewer.
"Your role is view only, so you cannot sign off a statement review."	The person signed in is a viewer. This is about who is typing the review in, not who reviewed.	Have the treasurer, president or auditor enter the sheet the reviewer signed, naming that reviewer on the form. The audit row records who typed it and on whose behalf.
"List at least two people who can get into this account before marking it checked."	You tried to mark an account checked with fewer than two people listed.	Add a real second admin in the account itself - the bank, the processor, the page - then list both names and save. If you cannot add one yet, clear the checked date and save; the account stays flagged, which is the point.
"You cannot remove yourself."	You tried to take your own access away, which on a small board can lock the organization out of its own books.	Invite the incoming officer, set them to treasurer or president, confirm they can sign in, and have them remove you.
"That would leave this organization with no treasurer and no president, and nobody able to add one."	The removal or role change you attempted would empty both offices, and nobody left could invite anybody again.	Give somebody else the treasurer or president role first, then repeat the change.
"This organization is at its limit of 20 people."	Active members plus outstanding invitations fill all 20 seats, usually because last year's officers were never removed.	Remove board members who have left, then send the invitation again. Their approvals and history stay in the audit record after removal.
The bank feed stopped importing after the online banking credentials were rotated.	The connection was made with credentials the bank has now retired, so the nightly sync no longer authenticates.	Have the incoming treasurer or president reconnect the account with the new credentials from the page where banks are connected and statement files imported. Until then, download the statement from the bank and import the CSV, OFX, QFX or QBO file so no month goes missing.
"That account is already connected. Disconnect it first if you are moving banks."	You tried to attach a second connection to an account that already has one.	Disconnect the existing connection on that account, then connect the new bank. Transactions already imported stay in the register.
The branch will not change the signature card at the counter.	The packet is short of something the bank requires, or the bank routes nonprofit changes through a business banking officer rather than a teller.	Ask which document is missing and who can approve the change, write both on the printed checklist, and book the second visit before leaving. Keep the task open until the bank confirms the card is changed - do not mark it done on a promise.

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.