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Regarding Financial Management at Concord
Members of Concord,A recent article in the Sunday News Journal highlighted that communities of faith are susceptible to theft of funds because we are by nature a trusting community. There were a number of recommendations provided in the article to help prevent such occurrences. This note is to reassure you that Concord has processes in place that are in alignment with those recommendations. Following is a description of what those processes are.
- All funds received in the Sunday morning offering, and those delivered to the office, are counted by a team of two unrelated individuals each Sunday morning, entered into a database, sealed in a deposit bag in the presence of both parties and placed in a night deposit box at the bank. The reports from that counting go to the Church Treasurer. The Financial Secretary can access those reports and reviews the database every few weeks. The counting teams are rotated and never count together more than three Sundays in a given year.
- The Treasurer provides monthly financial statements to the Finance Committee and the Session. The Financial Secretary makes quarterly reports to the Finance Committee on the giving patterns of the congregation. An annual report is made to the congregation each January which includes the previous year’s financial performance.
- The Treasurer disburses funds only after a Session member has signed a disbursement request. Exceptions to this process include routine monthly bills such as utilities, telephone, trash, sewer, etc., which are paid without a disbursement request. Large checks, e.g. an insurance premium payment, require two signatures. Besides the Treasurer, the Assistant Treasurer/Preschool Treasurer and one other member of the Finance Committee are authorized to sign checks for Concord.
- The Preschool Treasurer handles the Preschool finances in a similar manner, reporting monthly to both the Preschool Board and the church Finance Committee.
- No staff members on the church or preschool payroll may disburse funds under any circumstances.
- All church and preschool financial processes and transactions are reviewed each year by “auditors” (members not associated with the collection or disbursement of funds). Because of cost, a formal audit from an external auditing firm has not been done in many years.
If you have any concerns about how finances are administered, please seek out one of the treasurers or any member of the Finance Committee or any member of Session to address your concern or question. It is intended that the financial system of this church be fully transparent.
Ron McKinney - Financial Secretary and Preschool TreasurerStan Lamar - Treasurer
Alan Jewet - Chair - Finance Committee