Parish Audits
Our Canons, and the national church’s Canons, require every parish and every mission to provide the diocesan treasurer a copy of their audit report. Click on the following link to read the Canons: Audit Canons
The purposes of the annual audit of the congregation’s books of accounts are to assist the vestry and the clergy in meeting their fiduciary obligations by ensuring that the books of accounts have been maintained properly and to confirm that the books have been kept on generally accepted accounting principles.
The audit report can be a report issued by a certified public accountant, a licensed independent accountant or the congregation’s finance committee provided that the finance committee is independent (that is, the treasurer, comptroller and/ or bookkeeper are not members of the finance committee and do not participate in the audit).
Many of our congregations are small and their books of accounts are simple. While the vestry will want to know that its books of account are being maintained properly, the smaller congregations cannot afford to pay a certified public accountant its fee for an audit. For this reason, the diocesan treasurer will accept a statement from an independent accountant or the finance committee that the books of account have been reviewed and are in order.
