Anglican church governance: an exposé, Part II
In Part I of our investigation of local Anglican governance we found that our church had been established, by the Synod of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, so that members of the Anglican Church of Australia can be Anglicans within our area. And the parent, the Synod, makes the rules under which the children,...
Anglican church governance: an exposé, Part I
Now that I’ve got your attention, I must apologise if the word ‘exposé’ led you to think that my intention is to shock or surprise you. It’s not. Nor is the description of governance that follows intended to imply that anybody is trying to hide the truth. Yes, it took some digging to get the...
Your auditor: they’ve got to look so make sure they tell you what they found
Your auditor should be very (very) careful before doing your accounting. But here’s a way that you, as somebody involved in the management or governance of your organisation, can legitimately tap their accounting knowledge. In order to come to their opinion on your financial report, your auditor will pore over your books and ask you...
Two things that might surprise you about an audit report
If you read one thing in the audit report, either in the annual report or with a set of financial statements, it’s probably the section headed ‘Opinion’. And in most cases auditors will say there that ‘the financial report presents fairly, in all material respects’ or ‘gives a true and fair view of’ the financial...
Perhaps you shouldn’t be moving in a meeting?
‘Can I have a mover for that? John? Thanks. And a seconder? Sally. Right, let’s move on to the next item, the annual accounts.’ I’m willing to bet that if you’ve been around boards and committees for any length of time this, or a variation of it, will be familiar to you. But if a...
The National Standard Chart of Accounts: ‘Please don’t try this at home’
At the risk of losing you right at the beginning, the story requires me to first tell you about something called a ‘chart of accounts’. The heart of an accounting system is the ledger, a collection of accounts (not to be confused with bank accounts), each a record of transactions about an expense, revenue, asset,...
Did you get a clean one? A guide to the audit result
An audit report may be required in your organisation, so OK, you get one. But that shouldn’t be the end of it. Audits were demanded by owners before they were mandated by governments, so they should tell you something of value. But the report’s not in ordinary English, so where to start? (If this...
ABN, ARBN, ACN, business name, incorporated, not-for-profit, charity, social enterprise –easing the confusion
Business by The Book is the business name and trading name for an entity incorporated as a (special purpose) proprietary company that is a not-for-profit social enterprise registered as a charity with charitable institution concessions. Take a breath. It therefore has an ABN and an ICN, but doesn’t need an ARBN. That’s 12+ elements, but...
An auditor is for auditing, not accounting
The role of the auditor is not well understood among not-for-profits, particularly smaller ones. It’s often not practised well either. One issue is the blurring of the roles of auditor and accountant. The purpose of an audit is to ‘enhance the degree of confidence of intended users in the financial report’[i]. So the...
Husband and wife together on a board
In not-for-profit governance the question sometimes comes up as to whether or not it is OK for both husband and wife (or equivalent) to serve at the same time on a governing body (board, committee or similar). Not common maybe, but the thinking I go through below may help with other questions as well. ...