HOA glossaryBoard & governance

What are officers?

The directors assigned specific roles by the bylaws — typically president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.

Also called: President, Secretary, Treasurer

The president chairs meetings and usually signs on the association's behalf; the secretary is responsible for notices, minutes and records; the treasurer oversees the finances and reporting. The bylaws define the roles, and they differ more than boards expect.

Holding an office confers duties, not extra authority. A president cannot decide alone what the board has not decided, and a treasurer's oversight role does not make them the bookkeeper.

Where a manager performs the underlying work, the officer remains accountable for it. A treasurer who has not read the monthly statements has not discharged the role because someone else prepared them.

Why it matters to a board

Read the bylaws' description of each office at the first meeting after an election. Assumed roles are where authority gets exceeded.

Where the answer lives

Your recorded declaration and bylaws first, then the act that governs associations in your state. Whichever is stricter is the one that binds you.

Related terms

Board of directorsThe elected body that governs the association, holding all authority the governing documents grant to it and no more.BylawsThe association's internal operating manual — how directors are elected, how meetings are called and run, and what the officers may do.MinutesThe official record of what a meeting decided — the association's institutional memory and its primary evidence.Fiduciary dutyThe obligation a director owes the association to act loyally, in good faith, and with the care a prudent person would use.
General information, not legal advice. This entry explains what the term means, not what your association must do about it. Any notice period, cure window, fine cap, vote threshold or deadline comes from your recorded declaration and your state's act — those differ in all fifty states and are amended every session. Updated August 2026. Confirm the current requirements with an attorney licensed in your state before acting.
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