Roles and Responsibilities of Office Bearers

Most management committees will, in practice, have a small group of their committee who carry out more of the burden of running the voluntary organisation, these are often (though not necessarily only) the office bearers.

Most committees will have, at the very least, a Chair. Management Committees or Boards are likely to also have, at least, a Treasurer and a Secretary. Some will also have a Vice-Chair (to deputise in the Chair’s absence – may also have separate duties). Some groups (particularly unstaffed ones) will also have a Membership Secretary and/or a Minutes Secretary. Companies Limited by Guarantee will have a Company Secretary.

It is good practice to have “job descriptions” for each role. The list of tasks below for each role is only a rough guide – the “job descriptions” should be drawn up by the management committees and should be tailored to the needs of the organisation. However, as long as these roles are carried out, they do not have to be done by these specific post holders.

MVA can provide you with Model Job Description for office bearers. If you wish to receive this, please contact the Information Officer at MVA on 0131 663 9471, or send a message from the MVA contacts page.

1. Chair of a Management Committee/Board (or Chairman, Chairperson, or Convener)

This is a very important role, and can be quite difficult. The general responsibilities of the Chair of a Management Committee are:

To ensure the effective operation of the management committee;
to be the spokesperson for the organisation between meetings – the official ‘voice’ of the organisation;
to liaise with the secretary about committee meetings;
to ensure staff support, usually through supervision of senior worker, and as final point in disciplinary/grievance matters;
the chair is usually required to be one of the signatories on documents (for example, the Annual Return to OSCR if a charity), and to be one of the cheque signatories;
to prepare the agenda for meetings (in consultation with the Secretary and other management committee members and with staff)
to ensure that Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings are carried out according to the constitution of the organisation

The role of the Chair of a meeting

to have a clear idea about the purpose of the meeting
to know what decisions need to be made during the meeting
help the group achieve the goals of the meeting
encourage everyone in the group to contribute to the meeting
remain neutral during discussions – not taking sides
to ensure that decisions are clearly made and recorded;
to ensure that meetings are democratic and that everybody who wishes to make relevant points gets a chance to do so;
to ensure that meetings are not dominated by one person (or one small group of people);
to hold the casting vote in the event of a split decision;

A good Chair should be well prepared in advance of meetings and should be forewarned of possible controversial or delicate items on the agenda.

Profile: Facilitator, diplomat, communicator and coach. Gives a lead.

SCVO: “Your mission … governance”

2. Vice-Chair(or Vice-Chairman, Vice-Convener etc)

Usual to have a Vice-Chair to stand in for the Chair in his/her absence
May also agree a specific “job description”, for example, you might ask the Vice-Chair to be responsible for press releases, or to Chair specific sub-groups

Profile: Understudy and support for chair

SCVO: “Your mission … governance”

Needs to be confident enough to deputise but not be unhappy about being in the Chair’s shadow

3. Treasurer

The Treasurer of an organisation is responsible for the funds of the organisation, even if staff deal with much of the day-to-day financial business.

In an unstaffed organisation, the Treasurer will often deal with the financial transactions and bookkeeping.

Tasks include:

To advise the committee on financial matters, both positive and negative
To be one of the cheque book signatories
To ensure the maintenance of accounts/bookkeeping systems
To ensure systems for income and expenditure control
To submit regular financial reports to the committee
To ensure statutory returns to Inland Revenue
To monitor cash flow
To prepare annual accounts for audit/review
To advise on use of resources to maximum advantage
To ensure expenditure accords with organisation’s charitable purposes
To prepare the Treasurer’s report for the annual general meeting
To liaise with the appointed Auditor or Independent Examiner (if relevant)
To ensure financial planning takes place

In very small unstaffed organisations:

To pay bills
To collect subscriptions
To keep records of all income and expenditure
To keep an eye on expenditure

To keep the committee informed of the state of the finances
To prepare the statement of accounts for the AGM (or directing an accountant to do so)
To report to the AGM on the annual accounts

Profile: Critical analyser, detail lover, communicator, voice of caution

SCVO: “Your mission … governance”

4. Secretary

The position of secretary is very important and can be very demanding, especially in unstaffed organisations. In staffed organisations, a number of the following tasks will be delegated to staff.

Tasks are likely to include:

To be the contact point for correspondence
Dealing with correspondence
To convene meetings (including booking rooms)/prepare agenda (in liaison with Chair)/to write and circulate minutes
To arrange for Annual General Meeting
To prepare the Annual Report
To keep the Membership list up-to-date (unless this task is taken over by a separate Membership Secretary or a member of staff
To retain minutes book, or other record of signed minutes
To keep safe any evidence of the organisation’s charitable status
To obtain nominations for people to become committee members/office bearers for the following year
To send reports of meetings to the press

Profile: Practical organiser, administrator and active listener

SCVO: “Your mission … governance”

5. Company Secretary of a Company Limited by Guarantee

It is usual for a company to have a secretary, however, from 6th April 2008 private companies have had the option whether or not they have a company secretary. Further information is available on the Companies House website.

A full list of the Company Secretary’s duties is available in the “Directors and Secretaries Guide”, Companies House, www.companies-house.gov.uk.

6. Others

Some organisations have:

A Minutes Secretary
A Membership Secretary

Both of these are most common in small, unstaffed, groups – these roles are likely to be undertaken by staff in bigger organisations.

See Also:

Governance and Management
Governing Bodies
Roles and Responsibilities of Voluntary Management Committee Members:
Roles and Responsibilities of Office Bearers
Accountability
Liability

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Roles and Responsibilities of Office Bearers