Do Parents have a right to see the team financials?

[Tucson]

At lessons tonight, a mom well telling me this same story, but she was talking travel baseball. The coach had a debit card for the team's account and never provided any financial reports to the parents. In the mean time, he seemed to be living among his means.

I know of a guy in Springfield IL. that embezzled $46,000 from a baseball league. He is in the state prison.

If a team is a not for profit, you could ask for an audit.

Parents need to speak up. They can't kick 12 girls off the team and if they do, so what?

[Dropn N]

It shouldn't be that hard for any parent to figure out where the money is going in more than 20 minutes. You don't need to see financial statemets.
$40-50 per friendly game
$350-$500 per tournament
Helmet $30-80
Pants $15-$30
field usage $50-$100 per month
Etc.

Figure what you pay a month, # friendlies, a tournament a month or so etc. and bingo you have your financial statement. Stay or kick the coach in the nuts and run!

[GSB]

Say a team charges their team a total of $8,000 for the spring season, divided among say 12 girls. The team then only plays enough tournaments for about $4,000 to be accounted for. True, uniforms, bags, and helmets came out of the remaining $4,000. But then the coaching staff asks for all of that to be returned. So, do parents have a right to see the team financials? Why should all the equipment be returned if the parents paid for it from their team dues? Anyone been in this situation before?

SoCal ASA requires travel teams to "provide to each player and parent a pre-season team budget and an itemized, accurate end of season financial statement within 30 days after completion of ASA Championship Play." Check the rules for the association where your team is registered.

The equipment needs to be returned if it belongs to the team, which is possible if it was paid for with dues rather than separately.

Good luck!

True, but have you seen the statement examples ASA provides to team managers? Its a joke!! The budget is only a brief overview/guess. The season end financial statement is also just an overview. Not a itemized, accurate statement. Most manager's don't even do the basic statements that ASA asks for.

If your team manager bothered to fill out the non-profit paperwork and pay Uncle Sam the $800 processing fee, you are a step ahead of the game. With the non-profit status, your team may accept donations, not just sponsorships. Many large companies will donate $$$ as they can use it as a wright off. The teams who actually do this are required to complete yearly IRS statements with an accounting of all income and expenses. These statements are public domain as are the tax forms for almost all non-profits.

There is no law (at least in CA) or ASA oversight about providing the statements to parents. ASA does have a policy but does not enforce it. How hard can it be for ASA to require it before allowing a team to re-register. The two complaints lodged to ASA that I have heard about only resulted in some ASA sword rattling. In the end, the team re-registered and the parents got nothing.

[jofus]

It costs $800 to make a program non-profit?

[hawkeye]

when a player leaves a team and there is money in her account as a result of fund raising prior to a season ending tournament (nationals) then the player is due that money correct?

[Sftbll4ever]

when a player leaves a team and there is money in her account as a result of fund raising prior to a season ending tournament (nationals) then the player is due that money correct?

Depends. I have been on a team where I had my personal account money and that was paid back to me. The other money that was raised was as a team and I was not entitled to that.

[fastpitchfan]

Been on both ends. You can quickly tell just by being observant if things are on the up and up. New bats, uniforms, helments, balls. I think if a parent wants to know, they have the right. The really big organizations have to do this for there own personal records. The independents however, mainly just bust their butts to pull the ends together. You also have parents and coaches that spend so much out of their pockets that if you put a number on it , you could pay for college !!! lol

[slideby]

mr. oc hawks guy,

i find it funny that you say "run as fast as you can"
last week when there was post regarding this isuue you were all over me.
all our families asked all season for a "team budget" when one was sent out at basically end of
our season, it was all bs with made up fees and all our fundraising money accounting was completely wrong.
when a parent called ASA regarding this they where told that can not keep track of money issues on team and if you sign the ASA agreement you are shit out of luck.
team is suppose to give you the budget prior to that agreement .

[txfastptchcoach]

Say a team charges their team a total of $8,000 for the spring season, divided among say 12 girls. The team then only plays enough tournaments for about $4,000 to be accounted for. True, uniforms, bags, and helmets came out of the remaining $4,000. But then the coaching staff asks for all of that to be returned. So, do parents have a right to see the team financials? Why should all the equipment be returned if the parents paid for it from their team dues? Anyone been in this situation before?

Our team gets a financial statement after each tournament. This way they can keep up with everything that is being spent (via email). There should not be any secrets. When money is involved there are always doubts. All you can do is put it out there for them to see each time monies are raised and spent. By law any money donated or raised cannot be given back but it is done. We spend every penny and start over again come Sept. 1st. I'm not saying our way is the best but it has worked successfully for 3 years with no complaints.

[slideby]

when my dd was on a previous team we got accounting on everything to the penny.
on her team last year the team was never given how much was made at each fundrasier(some knewfrom counting at the end of the day), a e mail should be sent to all parents with the amount made.
when it was time to give the money back to the girls it was needless to say a big joke.
but nobody was laughing.