The committee handover checklist

Download the printable version (PDF)

This checklist helps a committee hand over well when its members change.

It is for a preschool run by a NSW incorporated association, which may also be a registered charity.

Before outgoing members leave

• Members who leave must hand the association’s documents to the public officer within 14 days.
• A former public officer must give those documents to a committee member within 14 days.
• Each change should go in the register of committee members.

A handover pack can hold:

• the constitution, and the minutes and registers
• the accounts and the latest financial statements
• the funding agreement and the department’s guidelines
• staff contracts, and which award covers each person
• the service’s policies and procedures
• the logins the service holds, such as the bank and the ACNC Charity Portal

Who signs

• The committee must appoint a public officer, who must be over 18 and live in NSW.
• If the public officer leaves, the committee must fill the role within 28 days.
• The new public officer must tell NSW Fair Trading.
• The public officer is always one of the people who can sign documents. That does not make them a signer at the bank.
• The association must have at least 2 authorised signatories, who can sign official documents.
• The committee may appoint other members as authorised signatories.
• When signatories change, the committee should tell its regular contacts.
• So check who can sign at the bank, as well as who signs documents.

Who must be told

• If it is a registered charity, tell the ACNC when someone joins or leaves the committee.
• The ACNC calls committee members Responsible People.
• Tell the ACNC as soon as you reasonably can.
• The latest is 28 days for a medium or large charity.
• A small charity has up to 60 days.
• The state regulator still needs to hear of changes too.
• In NSW, the regulator is the NSW Early Learning Commission.
• A person with management or control may join or leave. The provider then tells the regulator within 14 days (section 173(1)(b)).
• Not every committee member counts as one.
• Check each person’s role against the Commission’s guidance.
• Those who do have the same legal duties as the provider.
• Each new one fills in the fitness and propriety form before the notice.
• Those in child-related work in NSW also give a current Working with Children Check.

The new committee’s first meeting

• Each member should know the constitution and their legal duties.
• Existing members should make sure new members know their duties under the law.
• Members must disclose any interest that conflicts with their duties.
• The annual general meeting must be held within 6 months after the financial year closes.
• The committee should check and sign off payments often, at least at each meeting.

Questions to ask:

• Which decisions sit with the director, and which with the committee?
• Who holds each login, and who else can reach it if they leave?
• When is the next annual general meeting?