How many signatories are on your account?

When the departing treasurer hands over the accounts he or she will usually remind the new volunteer treasurer to update the account signatories at the bank. What they don’t do is to check the records to see how many signatories are still listed for each account. Often with changes in committee of management and organisation staff, the approved signatories will include people who are no longer associated with the organisation.  That could lead to problems in the future.  You can be certain Prince John changed the palace signatories as soon as King Richard walked out the door to go on crusade.  He wouldn’t want anyone else having access to funds that he could use for himself.

Prince John, Disney’s Robin Hood, 1973

For each bank account ensure that only current approved signatories have authorisation.   This is what you need to do to rectify and update the authorised account signatories:

  • Ask the bank to provide a list from their records of who they have listed as signatories for each account.
  • Review the list and advise the bank to remove old signatories.
  • Create your own list of who should be signatories for each bank account you have and prepare and submit the relevant paperwork to add any new signatories.
  • Provide the bank with this updated list and when any changes do occur, make sure you submit the paperwork to add new and remove old signatories as soon as practical.  Whenever you do make a change always provide the bank with an updated list of all the current signatories.
  • At least once a year request from the bank the list from their records of whom they have listed as signatories for each account.  The reason to do this is that banks can make mistakes and may not always have accurate and up to date records despite the fact you have provided them with correct details.

Now only the current signatories will have access to your bank accounts and that can only be a good thing.

Tomorrow we will look into how your bank accounts are accessed and by whom.