The committee is responsible for maintaining the documents and records of the association, but these remain the property of the association. The Act requires any committee member who has possession of these documents when they cease to be a committee member to deliver the records to a current member of the committee as soon as practicable. See also Custody and handover of records.
Committee handover checklist
There are steps that both new and outgoing committee members can take to ensure the handover of responsibility for managing an association is as smooth as possible.
The following list is not exhaustive but may assist an association to develop their own checklist:
- Hold a meeting of new and outgoing committees to familiarise new members with association’s policies, procedures and current issues. This would also be a good opportunity to provide the new committee with a summary of the association’s registration details, licences and reporting obligations (see Sample - about our association) and an orientation kit.
- Outgoing committee members must return all documents in their possession to the new committee as soon as practicable after the election.
- Update bank signatories replacing outgoing committee members with signatories from the new committee.
- Update AssociationsOnline users by retiring any outgoing users and adding new primary users.
- Update contact details with external agencies and association stakeholders. For example:
- Consumer Protection;
- Licensing authorities;
- Australian Taxation Office (ATO);
- Australia Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC);
- Insurance providers;
- Accountants, bookkeepers, reviewers and auditors;
- Funding bodies; and/or
- Parent/affiliated bodies.
- Update the record of office holders to reflect the new committee.
- Provide relevant passwords and log in information for any online accounts to the new committee.
- Update website to include details of new committee members, and any relevant contact details.