What does a charity treasurer do?

The charity treasurer role is one of the most consistently misunderstood positions in Canadian charity governance. The treasurer is not the bookkeeper. The treasurer is the board officer who ensures the bookkeeper, the CPA, and the executive director are doing the financial work properly.

Core duties

Monthly:

• Review the monthly financial statements before they go to the board.
• Identify any line items that need attention or explanation.
• Confirm fund balances and restricted fund movement are tracking correctly.
• Approve or question any unusual transactions.

Quarterly / at each board meeting:

• Present the financial report to the board.
• Explain budget vs actual, fund balances, and cash position.
• Answer questions from other board members.
• Recommend any board action required (approval of reforecasts, transfers between funds, reserve adjustments).

Annually:

• Review the draft T3010 before it is filed.
• Liaise with the auditor on behalf of the board (where applicable).
• Lead the budgeting process with the executive director.
• Review and recommend reserve and investment policies.
• Sign financial documents that require an officer signature.

Ad hoc:

• Respond to financial questions from members at the AGM.
• Provide context to journalists or funders if financial questions arise.
• Lead board response to any CRA inquiry or funder audit.

What a treasurer is not

• Not the bookkeeper. Treasurers don’t post journal entries, reconcile accounts, or chase invoices. That’s the bookkeeper’s job.
• Not automatically the executive director’s reporting line for finance. The ED usually reports to the board as a whole, not to the treasurer specifically. The treasurer is a peer who reviews finance work, unless the bylaws or board delegation say otherwise.
• Not personally liable for the charity’s financial decisions in most circumstances — though directors do have some personal liability under the Income Tax Act for unremitted source deductions and GST/HST, and under provincial corporate statutes for certain breaches.

Tools the treasurer needs

A treasurer who has the following can do the role in a few hours per month:

• A monthly board pack delivered before the meeting (not handed out at the meeting).
• Fund balances and budget-vs-actual by program.
• A 12-month rolling cash flow.
• A short narrative explaining anomalies.
• Quarterly access to the bookkeeper for questions.

A treasurer who is missing these is doing far more work than the role should require — and is usually trying to do the bookkeeping in addition to the governance.

How outsourced bookkeeping helps

A CPA-led outsourced bookkeeping function delivers the monthly board pack ready-to-present, freeing the treasurer to focus on governance, policy, and oversight. That’s the role description as written — and what we deliver as a standard part of the Growth and Enterprise tiers.