Treasurer of a CSE: A crucial role in all companies

To protect the medical, social, moral and financial interests of employees , the creation of a social and economic committee has become an obligation for all companies. Indeed, being composed of several elected employees, its objective is to represent employees on a daily basis as well as to allow them to work in the best possible conditions. Its civil and moral personality therefore gives it the responsibility of appointing, or more exactly electing a treasurer from among its members. If once, his election was seen as a simple council, today, or more precisely, since 2015, it has become essential and legally binding for the proper functioning of the body. However, its functions are still incomprehensible to most people. This section will therefore clarify you on this subject by highlighting the different missions of the latter.

The designation of the treasurer within a CSE

Note that the establishment of a CSE is mandatory once the workforce of the company reaches 11 employees for 12 consecutive months. And since it plays an important role in protecting workers, it goes without saying that its operation and the management of these CSE budgets are in very good hands. To do this, CSE members not only need a secretary, but also a treasurer. The latter is elected by a majority from the full members of the committee under the same rules observed for the appointment of the secretary of the CSE. The chairman of the committee will not, however, be able to claim this position, but, being a member of the committee, he will automatically have the right to participate in the vote. This election must be made at the first meeting held between the members of the CSE in accordance with the terms of the internal regulations of the Works Council.

It is advised that in order for him to accomplish his tasks well, it would be more than advisable to elect a person with management and accounting skills, since his duties will be essentially anchored on this.

Profile of CSE Treasurer

The CSE being a civil personality, it manages its own budget which is the responsibility of the treasurer. He therefore has special prerogatives, but must also have skills accordingly. He is considered to be the guardian and moral guarantor of the organization. Its profile must therefore be well studied by the members to ensure good stewardship within the body.

To begin with, a good treasurer must have a particular fondness for figures, management, "reporting" and inventory, because these are tasks that he will have to carry out in the future. It would therefore be best to choose a person who knows what to expect when accepting this position.

Then, he must be completely at ease with the orders and the disciplines since he can in no way make personal decisions, but must always refer and seek advice from the members of the committee. In other words, he is designated as an executor and puts himself at the service of the body. If necessary, that is to say, if he does not take into account the opinion and advice of the committee, but acts on his own, he must answer for his actions. Consequently, he must be able to easily communicate with CSE members in order to be able to keep them constantly informed of financial flows in the Committee. business. He therefore has the obligation to report problems he meets and updates to all members.

He must therefore have a sense of duty and commitment as well as rigor in carrying out accounting work. In addition to all this, he must show great discretion in the accomplishment of his tasks, a great speed of execution and a foolproof efficiency. The best option would be to choose someone who already has experience in accounting instead of a novice who is still trying to prove themselves.

He must be able to apply and understand the rules of accountability and tightness between the different budgets and must not leave room for approximation in the execution of his accounting tasks. He must apply codes, markers and financial languages. In other words, it is important that he is not only intelligent, but also logical in his actions.

The missions of the treasurer of a CSE

Missions not listed in the Labor Code

Although the election of a treasurer within the CSE is compulsory, the law does not provide for specific missions which are specific to it in the Labor Code. Nevertheless, she mentions that the latter has accounting obligations and budgetary transparency obligations by having this title. As for its other missions, they are defined in the internal regulations of the CSE which is established by its members. Moreover, it is a valid document which states not only all of its functions, but also the means which are granted to it to be able to accomplish its tasks being at the same time an employee. In no case can it decide alone the rules cited therein, but acts only according to what the majority of the members with the right to vote has chosen.

The role of the treasurer of the CSE does not differ from that of the Works Council. This means that it plays an essential role in that it takes the necessary measures to be able to administer the finances of the body with total transparency.

These missions are diverse and are very important, hence the reason why the members who establish the rules of procedure must carry out an in-depth study on the matter. In all cases, the list of its tasks must be clear and precise and only relates to the financial well-being of the body.

Opening a bank account in the name of the Works Council

From a general point of view, it must apply, manage and respect the accounting rules concerning the committee. He is therefore obliged to keep the accounts of the committee up to date while following the various financial movements throughout the year. The opening of a bank account for the committee is also attributed to him despite the fact that he is not in his name. In the event that the committee requires that budgets be managed separately, it can even open two accounts on its behalf.

Manage and distinguish different budgets

As it is a question of budget and finance, he is also responsible for the treasury of the committee by managing both the budgets relating to the functioning of the body and those relating to social and cultural action. These two concepts draw different funds then, this last must be able to be able to distinguish them well.

As he must be completely at ease with the figures, he also takes care of analyzing them using structured accounting, the importance of which depends solely on the size of the social and economic committee. In this sense, he must check, settle and classify the invoices and manage the administrative expenses linked to the employees of the CSE and external speakers such as the trainers for example.

Archiving of accounting documents

It should also not be forgotten that archiving all the accounting documents is one of his most important tasks, because in the event of an audit, he could be asked for documents dating back several years. It will then be easier for him to justify each expenditure of the committee and to prove that he acted in complete transparency.

Other missions

Apart from what has already been mentioned, the person in charge of treasury also has the mission: to ensure that the employer pays the necessary budget, to establish a provisional budget, to fulfill any requests for reimbursement of the members of the social committee, to carry out bank reconciliations, to make the statement of accounts every year and to close the financial year. Its mission also consists in preparing an inventory at least once a year.

Mission tools

The treasurer must keep an account book, but is not necessarily obliged to use an accounting software according to the patrimony or the wealth of the authority.

Determination of the roles of the Treasurer

Before being able to determine its various tasks, it is necessary to take into account the extent of the patrimony of the authority. To do this, it will be necessary to calculate a workforce within a CSE and determine its annual income. In fact, some social committees have a maximum income of 153,000 euros per year, while others have more. We must therefore consider that the functions of the treasurer differ for these two kinds of instances.

Delegation of the Treasurer's missions

Having someone to delegate functions is not required by applicable law. However, if the treasurer's workloads are much too heavy, he may request the assistance of an assistant. The latter can replace him during his absences and is even authorized to sign invoices.

In the event that the treasurer can no longer hold office, the assistant cannot take his place unless the provisions of the internal regulations have provided.

The means of the Treasurer

As he is also an employee of the company, his time may not be enough to carry out his various tasks. In addition, we cannot grant him overtime for that. So, it is normal that we grant him hours of delegation credits to be able to carry out his missions as such.

He also has the right, like all members of the CSE, to have training to improve his work and to acquire new knowledge. This can be requested for technological reasons, since there are now several data processing software even in accounting.

Responsibilities of the Treasurer

Because of the civil and legal personality and its legal and financial autonomy, the CSE has legal responsibilities. Among its members, the treasurer has a greater responsibility, being responsible for respecting the principles of accounting, the distribution of charges and expenses and, of course, confidentiality.

Consequently, even if the committee's responsibility may be engaged, that of the Treasurer may also be engaged under certain conditions. He is civilly and criminally liable in the event of embezzlement, fraud or embezzlement to the detriment of the Works Council. Its responsibility is also held if it has been proven that it did not respect the confidentiality clauses. In this sense, he can be prosecuted before the criminal court for breach of trust or for obstructing the proper functioning of the body.

The treasurer plays a very important role within the CSE, as it ensures the proper administrative and financial functioning of the latter. So do not take lightly the different tasks for which he is responsible. However, choose a trusted and honest person to fill this position.