| Author | Message | ||
| Bskillet Registered user Username: Bskillet Post Number: 227 Registered: 8-2008 |
One of the important principles of stewardship is to avoid giving large amounts of money to charities that are not audited by an independent auditor. There are, of course, exceptions, where some charities are too small to afford hiring an auditor, for instance. But by and large, it is best not to give to any organization that is not regularly audited. The reason for this is that an organization that does not submit to an audit by an independent, respected external auditor, is not transparent: There is a higher chance that such an organization is mis-using charitable funds, and there is even a chance that outright fraud is going on. Recent scandals involving the investment firm run by Bernie Madoff demonstrates this: His large organization was audited, but not by a well-known and respected auditor. Similarly, a few years ago Bayou Capital Management did essentially the same kind of thing as Madoff, and they were "audited" by a firm run by one of the principals of Bayou. The point is that without an independent audit, you simply cannot know if your funds will truly go to the purposes for which you intend them. Why do I mention this? The Seventh-day Adventist Church has never submitted to an audit by an external auditor. Never. They are audited by GCAS, the General Conference Auditing Service. In other words, they audit themselves and then tell church members it is okay to give, because they passed an audit. The fact that the SDA denomination will not submit to an external audit should be a red flag that there is something amiss in the organization. In the 1990s, the SDA denomination was rocked by scandals involving financial wrongdoing by top General Conference executives, including President Robert Folkenberg. David Dennis, General Conference Treasurer, began sounding the alarm bells on Folkenberg's dealings as early as 1991. He continued sounding alarms, up until Folkenberg fired him in 1995. This is the reason you have independent auditors: If you can fire someone for pointing out wrong-doing, that person is incentivised to just ignore the wrong-doing (A timeline of the David Dennis/Robert S. Folkenberg controversy can be found at this pro-Adventist website.) The SDA denominational leadership continue to tell its members that they will be damned to hell if they do not give at least 10% of their income to the denomination. At the same time, these leaders will not submit to an audit by an independent auditing firm, in order to confirm that the tithe funds are being handled well. SDA publications tell SDA members that it is their responsibility before God to continue paying tithe, and that it is God's responsibility to make sure tithe is being used properly. They then imply that a person is required to write a blank check to the SDA denomination, and to ask questions about the use of donated funds is to disobey God. To me, this sounds like the behavior of people who have something to hide. I remember that Someone once said, "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God" (John 3:20,21). If the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is truly above board in its financial dealings, then it should demonstrate such by coming into the light through submitting to an independent audit. | ||
| Lrcrabtree Registered user Username: Lrcrabtree Post Number: 87 Registered: 1-2007  |
It seems clear from my brief research that failure to engage an independant auditor and follow up was the reason that the SDA church drove Harris Pine Mills to bankrupcy. The Harris family created a flourishing nationwide business, which the church promptly eviscerated. | ||
| 8thday Registered user Username: 8thday Post Number: 754 Registered: 11-2007  |
Very interesting info I did not know. I know many Christian organizations are accountable to independent audits and list the organization they are accountable to. Guess they wouldn't ever want to do that.. | ||
| Gcfrankie Registered user Username: Gcfrankie Post Number: 337 Registered: 1-2007 |
I had heard there was problems with the GCP but did not realize how extensive it was. Living in a small town it was kept hush-hushed. Gail |
