Well, these pages will attempt to walk you through the basics of the Treasurer's office. Any and all information herein is unofficial, except where it refers to the official information. Use at your own risk, proceed with caution, USE YOUR BRAIN! If your group has a system that works, don't change it without a lot of thought.
This information should NOT replace the Treasurer's Handbook. Any contradiction between the Handbook and this information means that this information is WRONG! These pages are just a very brief introduction and summary of information to be used as a possible starting point.
Step one is to download the Request for Warrant and get it filled out and mailed to the Kingdom Treasurer. Part of this is submitting proof of your "real-world" identity and proof of SCA membership. These proofs must be submitted for every person who is a signatory (can sign checks) on the bank accounts, so you might as well get familiar with them.
Step two is to hear from the Kingdom Treasurer.
Step three is to actually start being the treasurer, by getting new signature cards for all accounts you will be responsible for (that should be any and all accounts in your group.) The Kingdom Treasurer must be a signatory on all accounts, as well as the local seneschal, the treasurer (that's you) and it is highly recommended that you have at least one other person as a local signatory. Otherwise you can't write a check to reimburse the seneschal without sending the check to the Kingdom Treasurer. Who doesn't need the hassle.
As group treasurer, you are automatically on the group financial committee. Didn't know you had one? Not only are you on the committee, you should know your group Financial Policy. Yes, every group must have a Financial Policy and financial matters are decided by the Financial Committee. Neither the policy nor the committee has to be complicated.
The Seneschal and the Treasurer must be on the committee, with other paid members as decided by the group. A shire might have as its financial committee, "The Seneschal, Treasurer and those paid members present at group meetings." Baronies and larger groups usually have a more specific group of people as the financial committee. The purpose of having a Financial Committee is so that neither the seneschal or the treasurer can make decisions alone, and everyone knows how financial decisions are made.
Every group must have a written policy about how they spend their money. A perfectly good financial policy is something like:
"Small expenses (under $20) can be approved by any meeting of the Financial Committee (consisting of the Seneschal, Treasurer and any other paid members at the meeting), larger expenses must be discussed at meetings of at least 2/3 the active paid membership of the shire. "
Stuff it might be good to mention:
How can someone become a member of the financial committee?
Is there a dollar amount at which an expense must be brought before the whole group?
Are meetings open or closed? (Can members of the group observe the conversations) (BTW, I tend to lean toward open meetings, perhaps closing them sometimes for sensitive discussions)
Does your group budget money for officers? Put the dollar amounts in the Financial Policy.
And more, but it depends on your group and what issues have come up in the past.
The SCA's Financial Policy is (of course) longer, the Kingdom's is also longer and is attached to Kingdom Law.
You don't have to put things in your financial policy that are in the Kingdoms or the SCA's, and you cannot be less strict than either of those policies. If something is continually an issue in your group (financial committee=paid members only, receipts turned in within 30 days for reimbursement) it doesn't hurt to repeat them in your group FP.