Investing in your church via religious charitable development funds (RCDFs): a case of too much trust needed?
I am always willing to look at ways for my local church to fund more evangelism and help more of the poor. So when our Rector said that we would get 0.75% for any money I deposited in an ‘online community saver’ account with the Anglican Investment and Development Fund (AIDF), I was interested. And...
Your auditors: before they start, expect this
Did you know that it is not automatic – or, more correctly, it shouldn’t be automatic – that an auditor will say yes to doing an audit? In fact, if you’ve got an auditor who’s been auditing for any time longer than a football match and hasn’t thought about whether – other than because of...
Financial statements: they say for the year ended but that’s not the whole story
Did you know that financial statements have to be changed if certain things happen before they are issued? (‘Authorised for issue’ to be precise.) These things are called ‘events after the reporting period’[i]. That means that although the statements are said to be for the period up to a certain date (usually the year ended...
Is your auditor up-to-date? One thing that will leave you in no doubt
Although we\'re auditors ourselves, because we\'re a charity seeking to help the needy, disadvantaged and disenfranchised of society, we\'re on the side of the ‘little man’. Which means the audit client in this case. Hence, this post begins, Oh dear! I’ve just seen an auditor do it again. And that makes it far too many...
Accounting for Timebanking
Have you heard of ‘timebanking’? No, nor had I until Pro Bono Australia told me about it the other day. I was a little surprised (having made an effort over the last year to keep up-to-date with NFP things), but it turns out that, although time-based currency exchanges have been around since 1832, and this...
The audit: if it’s all the same with you, we’ll do the same with you. Thanks.
There’s no differential auditing in Australia. Never mind your size, form, or complexity, if you want an audit by a member of the accounting profession in Australia (a professional accountant), there’s only one process that they will (or, more accurately, should) go through to get you the audit report that you need for your AGM....
What the accounting standard setters think about you
Hello reader of financial statements[i]. I have both good news and bad news for you. Which do you want first? The good? Well the good news is that the financial statements are designed with you, the user, in mind. And the bad? Unfortunately, you might not match the kind of person they had in mind...
What does my charity have to report to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) this year?
I had to get this clear for a couple of clients, so I thought I’d share it in case it helps anybody else. First up, unless you are registered with the ACNC – check here - then you are not legally a charity, so you don’t have to worry about ACNC reporting requirements at all....
The audit of financial statements prepared ‘on a cash basis’: an example for preparers and their auditor
I suspect that the pairing of a regulatory requirement for a financial statement audit by a professional auditor, with financial reporting on a cash basis, is not common. This is because such an audit is normally only needed when there are users separate from those running the organisation (and the organisation is of some size),...
Local Anglican church governance, Part III
So far (Parts I and II) in our investigation of local Anglican church governance, we have seen that our church is an unincorporated organisation, established by a body representative of the mind of the Anglicans of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn called the Synod, run by the members of the local church, in partnership...