Inc Soc officers

Officers of incorporated societies

The new Incorporated Society Act 2022 has broadened the scope of who is considered an officer of an incorporated society:

"a natural person occupying a position in the society that allows the person to exercise significant influence over the management or administration of the society (for example, a treasurer or a chief executive);"

Some roles are explicitly mentioned as being officers:

• Committee members
• Treasurer (since our reeves are branch treasurers, this means them too.)

The exclusions from being an officer under the Incorporated Societies Act are aimed primarily at preventing financial impropriety/fraud/dishonesty, so it makes sense that the roles that are able to make decisions on or execute financial transactions are subject to the exclusions. This includes:

• The Council of the Purse - They decide on expenditure of SCANZ funds that are allocated to kingdom-level purchases. They also determine which groups will host Crown events, which can have significant financial impact on a group. The Council of the Purse includes:
  • The Crown
  • The Kingdom Seneschal
  • The Chancellor of the Exchequer and their deputy
• Group Seneschals - can enter into agreements that commit SCANZ funds
• Other signatories on SCANZ group accounts - can execute payments.

Some roles are included because of their influence:

• Baron and/or Baroness of an NZ barony - have potential for long-term influence over their group, via their pastoral care duties over many years.
• The Crown, due to their ability to appoint people who are officers.
• The Kingdom Seneschal also has significant influence during their tenure, and appoints other officer holders.

Functionally, this requires candidates for these roles to fill in this form, and the SCANZ registrar adding your details to our Incorporated Societies Register with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies if successfully appointed.

It may prevent some people from holding these offices.

Obviously we are not interested in registering every A&S officer or marshal, so the list has been carefully chosen, and other terms used for other roles we generally consider officers in the kingdom, throughout the constitution.

Officers of SCANZ are covered by our Associations Liability insurance to protect them from the costs of mounting a legal defence, as well as damages awarded while carrying out their duties.