An audit can be a scary thing. At the very least, an audit is a huge piece of work.
The Finance team of the Iowa Conference is out to help with that!
Terry Montgomery, Conference Treasurer, and Emily Graber, Senior Staff Accountant, will be presenting a webinar on Tuesday, February 24 aimed at presenting a strategy to help congregations to De-Scarify Audits for the Local Church.
Click here to learn more about the webinar and register
The Book of Discipline requires every church,, to have an annual financial audit ( ¶ 258.4.d). “A local church audit is defined as an independent evaluation of the financial reports and records and internal controls of the local church by a qualified person or persons. The audit shall be conducted for the purpose of reasonably verifying the reliability of financial reporting, determining whether assets are being safeguarded, and determining compliance with local law, local church policies and procedures, and the Book of Discipline.”
The February 24 webinar will be offered twice – at12:00 pm and 6:30 pm. They are designed particularly for those smaller churches that do not have the resources for an accountant to independently review their books.
The Annual Conference is audited annually. The financial reviews, as directed by ¶ 617, are conducted by certified public accountants at the end of the financial year. National firms, including McGladrey and Pullen LLP, Crowe Howrath LLP, and now McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith PC, perform the audit. The extensive review that often takes two to three weeks with as many as five persons. They want to be certain that the Conference is following generally accepted accounting principles. The results of the yearly review are published in the Annual Conference Journal.
Click here to see the 2012 and 2013 audited financial statements
While a local church audit isn’t rigorous a task as the Annual Conference financial examination, it can still be intimidating. And that’s why the Finance team of the Iowa Conference invites congregation leaders to discover how to De-Scarify Audits for the Local Church.
