Who Knows wrote:Additionally, knowing that you're being audited, and submitting public financials, can be a big motivator to keep things 'clean'.
They are audited, by an outside audit firm, if I'm not mistaken.
No, they're not. A lot of their businesses are, such as deseret book. But not the church as a whole. They have an internal audit department that does the audits (again, worthless for external purposes).
And as a bonus - since they're a religion - they don't even have to submit numbers to the IRS. whoopeee.
WK: "Joseph Smith asserted that the Book of Mormon peoples were the original inhabitants of the americas"
Will Schryver: "No, he didn’t." 3/19/08
Still waiting for Will to back this up...
SatanWasSetUp wrote:But "experts" would also write the reports. MAybe I'm cynical, but if the church began issuing financial reports, because they were pressured or out of the goodness of their hearts, those reports would be written by highly paid lawyers and finance people within the church. The church would never allow itself to look bad. The financial reports would have more faith promoting spin than the new Joseph Smith manual. Jeffrey Skilling needs a job, right? I woudn't trust a report written by the church. Now if they were required to be audited by an external organization, that would be interesting, but I seriously doubt the church would ever allow that.
Well, yeah, I'm assuming that the report would be audited. A financial report issued without an audit isn't worth the paper it's written on - there's no point to it.
scottie wrote:It might show on the radar, but then what???
It's not like there would be a mass uprising against the brethren to spend the tithing more appropriately. After all, the membership has sustained the brethren and entrust them to do what is best, what with direct contact with God and all...
No, all it would do is give anti's more ammo to go after the church.
Who knows what would happen? Some people would care, some wouldn't. So what? That doesn't mean that it shouldn't be done.
Additionally, knowing that you're being audited, and submitting public financials, can be a big motivator to keep things 'clean'.
Yes, but creating the report would cost money. I would prefer the Church not spend money on that when there are starving children in Africa.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
The Nehor wrote:Yes, but creating the report would cost money. I would prefer the Church not spend money on that when there are starving children in Africa.
Heh. Paying for an external audit would cost money as well.
But at the same time, you don't know how well they're managing their money in the first place.
WK: "Joseph Smith asserted that the Book of Mormon peoples were the original inhabitants of the americas"
Will Schryver: "No, he didn’t." 3/19/08
Still waiting for Will to back this up...
We love to use this arbitrary thing called "the church", as if it were an actual entity, and say that it is in control of the financials. As if the top 15 really have much say as to where the money is spent.
When the reality is that there are probably hundreds, if not thousands of employees of the corporation that are the ones doing the actual spending. Are we to believe that every single one of these people are trustworthy and would absolutely never misappropriate the funds? I doubt that the presidency even knew that they were importing wood and stone. Some guy over temple building somewhere in the COB probably thought it would be cool and did it.
Shouldn't the tithe payers be able to check up on THEM? To make sure that they are spending it appropriately?
If there's one thing I've learned from this board, it's that consensual sex with multiple partners is okay unless God commands it. - Abman
I find this place to be hostile toward all brands of stupidity. That's why I like it. - Some Schmo