A PTA’s books close at the end of the fiscal year, but last year’s business keeps arriving. A June check goes uncashed and has to be voided and reissued. A bill approved in May gets paid in July. A volunteer turns in a receipt from the spring carnival in August. Each one has to be settled this year without rewriting the reports last year’s treasurer already presented.
I served as a PTA treasurer for three years across two school districts and trained the treasurers who came after me. Every term, something from the year before landed on my desk: a receipt turned in late, a refund for a spring purchase, a check that was lost and had to be reissued. Each one was a small research project, first to get the person paid and then to keep the books true to what happened.
The examples here use a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year. Your bylaws and your state or council PTA’s guidance decide the details.
Last year’s books stay as they were presented
Last year’s books belong to the previous year’s association and already produced many reports that have been saved and shared. Changing a June entry in October would change those reports. So whatever comes up, record it as a new entry in this year, and leave last year’s entries alone.
That leaves two kinds of questions:
- Money that went out last year and came back. A check that was voided, or a bill pay check the bank returned. The PTA still owes the payee, and last year’s books already show the payment.
- A bill paid this year for something last year. Either it was approved last year and paid late, or it was never submitted until after the year closed.
A check from last year that never cleared
Follow up with a payee whose check hasn’t cleared after 30 to 45 days. If it was lost, stop payment and issue a new one. Standard PTA procedures call for printing “Void if not cashed within 90 days” on PTA checks, and for stopping payment on one still outstanding after 90 days. A bank isn’t obligated to pay a check more than six months old, though it may. Bill pay is the same problem from the other side: the money usually left the account when the check was mailed, and if the payee never deposits it, the bank credits it back, often three to six months later, depending on its bill pay terms.
Either way, record the void dated today, or the bank’s credit on the date it posted, as a new entry. Standard PTA procedures say voiding needs no motion but reissuing does, especially when the original was written in a previous term, so bring the reissue to the board or membership as your bylaws require.
The harder question is where the money sits in this year’s books until the replacement goes out. There are three ways to handle it.
Option 1: Credit a related line in this year’s budget
The void lands on this year’s version of the line the check paid. A June check for field day equipment comes back as a credit to this year’s Field Day line, and the replacement check charges the same line. If both happen this year, they cancel out.
It keeps last year untouched, but it puts last year’s business into this year’s numbers:
- This year’s line shows activity that didn’t happen this year. Until the reissue goes out, Field Day looks $1,180 underspent, and someone may plan around money that is already owed.
- It breaks if the timing slips. A reissue that waits until next year, or never happens, leaves a credit on a line that has nothing to do with it.
- Not every line has a match. A one-time project from last year may have no line this year to credit.
Option 2: A holding line for prior-year checks
Some PTAs add a budget line such as “Prior-year checks” or “Reissues from previous years.” Voids credit it and reissues charge it, so the real program lines stay clean.
The trade-off is visibility. One line netting several voids and reissues doesn’t say who is owed what or why, so reviewers have to dig through the detail to follow it. It is also still a budget line: it needs a budgeted amount the membership adopts, and a reissue without a matching void in the same year is spending against it.
Option 3: An account for payments still owed
The third answer steps outside the budget. A liability account records money the PTA owes someone, in the same way a bank account records money the PTA has. Call it “Payments to reissue.”
- The void moves the money in. The PTA’s cash goes back up, and the liability shows the same amount owed to the payee.
- The reissue moves it out. The replacement check pays off the liability. It doesn’t charge any budget line, since last year’s budget was already charged once by the original check.
- If the payee never claims it, release it in the year that happens: to donation income if the payee gave it back, or as your state’s unclaimed property law requires if they can’t be found.
The books then match what happened. Last year’s budget shows the spending it approved, this year’s budget shows nothing that didn’t happen this year, and the balance sheet shows what is still owed, with the account’s detail showing to whom. A spreadsheet organized only by budget line has no natural place for this, since every dollar there belongs to a line.
How Volo Cash handles each option
Volo Cash does option 3 on its own. When you void or refund a request’s payment, the amount moves into Payments to reissue, and the request goes back to signed so you can record the replacement. The reissue pays off what’s owed without charging the budget again. When you reissue a check voided in a previous fiscal year, the payment screen reminds you that your bylaws may require a motion.
Two June checks voided after the year rolled over. Each waits here until it’s reissued or released.
If the payee won’t be paid, Won’t reissue moves the amount to a category you choose, such as donation income, dated in the year it happens. Last year’s budget keeps the spending it already reported.
Options 1 and 2 work too. A check recorded in the register rather than through a request asks, when you void it, whether the payee is still owed. Choose “Not owed to anyone,” and Volo Cash asks for a category in this year’s budget, starting on the line that continues last year’s when there is one (option 1). Pick your holding line instead for option 2.
A bill paid this year for last year
Last year’s bills arrive in two ways. A vendor invoice for the spring carnival was approved in May and arrives in July. Or a volunteer finds a Teacher Appreciation Week receipt in August that was never turned in. Either way the cash leaves this year, so the payment goes in this year’s books.
The incoming treasurer may pay bills that were authorized last year. Standard PTA procedures ask the new treasurer to hold off on new bills, where possible, until the financial review is complete and the new budget is adopted.
Which budget the bill counts against depends on which kind it is.
Approved last year
PTAs differ here, and the standard references don’t settle it. There are three options:
- Keep it on last year’s budget. It was approved against that budget, so it stays there. Last year’s budget report shows it, and nothing about the spending is hidden.
- Charge a related line in this year’s budget. Last year’s budget report stays as it was presented. This year’s line then carries spending it didn’t plan for.
- Charge a carry-over line in this year’s budget. A line set aside for last year’s bills keeps them apart from this year’s programs, and last year’s report stays as it was presented. Setting one up is covered below.
Agree on one with your board and use it every time, so your financial reviewers see the same treatment for every late bill.
Volo Cash supports each. When you record a payment for a request approved last year, it flags the split. The charge stays on last year’s approved line unless you pick a line in this year’s budget instead, whether a related line or a carry-over line.
A bill approved last year and paid in July: the charge stays on last year’s line unless you choose otherwise.
When the charge stays on last year’s budget, the Annual Financial Report shows it in both years: this year’s lists spending charged to a prior year’s budget, and last year’s lists what it approved that was paid in another year.
Turned in after the year closed
Nobody approved a late receipt against last year’s budget, and last year’s books are closed, so it goes on this year’s budget, on a related line or a carry-over line.
Planning for last year’s bills
Both kinds can be planned for, before the year ends and in next year’s budget.
- Announce the date the books close. Tell board members and chairs in the spring, so receipts come in before June 30. A Volo Cash reminder can prompt you to send the announcement.
- Look for lines behind last year’s pace. In the spring, a line well behind last year’s spending can mean receipts that haven’t been turned in. Ask its chair while there’s still time before the books close.
- Leave room on lines that collect late bills. If last year’s Teacher Appreciation receipts trickled in through July, this year’s line needs room for that before it funds anything new.
- Or budget a carry-over line. It can be one catch-all line, such as “Carry-over from last year,” which is simple to budget but has the same blind spot as a holding line: it doesn’t show which programs the money went to. Or it can be a carry-over line for each program that runs late, such as “Teacher Appreciation (last year),” which takes more lines but shows where the money went. The budget guide covers how much detail to break out.
Possible unsubmitted expenses identified in Volo Cash Insights.
Where Volo Cash helps
Volo Cash keeps last year’s reports as they were presented and records each leftover in the year it happens.
- Voided and returned checks move into Payments to reissue automatically, and the replacement pays them off without charging the budget twice.
- Bills approved last year are flagged when you pay them, with the choice of last year’s line or any line in this year’s budget, including a carry-over line.
- Spend timing shows which lines are behind last year’s pace before the books close, and where next year’s budget needs room for late bills.
- The Annual Financial Report separates spending charged to a prior year’s budget and payments made in another year.
Whichever approach your PTA uses, Volo Cash fits the process you already have.
The budget guide covers building next year’s budget, the treasurer transition guide covers the handoff, and you can try Volo Cash free for three months.