Stake Audit Committee - Who can attend the post-audit review

Is it appropriate for the stake clerk and/or stake finance clerk to attend the audit committee meeting as the committee reviews the audit reports with the stake president?

Instructions on the form state, essentially, that the stake president meets with the audit committee (which of course does not include any clerks).

Or is it best that the meeting excludes those with direct access to records/record keeping and are able to cut checks? I can see that being the case with the stake audit review, but not really with the ward audit reviews.

Just curious.

That is up to your stake president, but I think having the person who will do the follow up work-such as the stake finance clerk-present is critical.

I am the stake financial clerk, and I am always invited because I have so much more experience in Church finances than the audit committee. I can help them understand the relevant policies and procedures, as they are discussing audit exceptions. I also learn first-hand about the ways in which the ward financial clerks need to be trained, which is of course also my responsibility.

I can understand there being some concern about the stake audit being discussed, but it's extremely rare that there is an exception for the stake, so that's not an issue for us. But in my opinion, the bottom line is that the stake audit committee chairman and the stake president can decide who they want to invite.

mlh78 wrote:That is up to your stake president, but I think having the person who will do the follow up work-such as the stake finance clerk-present is critical.

I totally agree. I am the stake clerk (as well as the financial stake clerk) so it is critical that I understand what exceptions were found and what may have created them. Not often, but every once in awhile you find an auditor who wrote up an exception that wasn't necessary or in error. Without knowing why the auditor did it, it just creates that much more work for the stake clerk who has to follow up and help clear the exception or do training to prevent it from happening again.

I have been the stake clerk now under two different stake presidencies and neither one has opted to not invite me to the post audit review. And to be honest, I don't see why it would be an issue not to invite the stake clerk / stake finance clerk.

Thanks for the input. Does each auditor attend that meeting still too? If so, do they come in one by one, or meet as an entire group?

At least in our stake, we have all the auditors, audit committee members, as well myself attend the post audit review (in the same room at the same time). As a side note, we have the same individuals attend the pre-audit training session as well. I think aebrown stated a very good reason why the stake clerk / stake clerk for finances should be attending these meetings. We have more experience with church finances, we can help with some of the training, and as for the post-audit review, it is critical that we (who will be doing the follow-up) understand the exceptions. One of the most important sheets in the audit form is the page listing the exceptions. Going back to the unit to fix something that you may only partially understand from the notes on the exception page wastes time and effort - essentially making you go back and redo portions of the audit - face it, not all the auditors are crystal clear on what the exeption was or why it was even an exception. Hopefully this is not the norm but it does happen where a write-up (exception) isn't clear so having the opportunity to listen to the auditor explain to the committee is a great help in getting you headed in the right direction for correcting the exception and doing meaningful training.

paulhilbig wrote:Is it appropriate for the stake clerk and/or stake finance clerk to attend the audit committee meeting as the committee reviews the audit reports with the stake president?

Instructions on the form state, essentially, that the stake president meets with the audit committee (which of course does not include any clerks).

Handbook 1 under section 14.9.3 says the post audit review should include the stake president, stake audit committee, and stake clerk assigned to finances. Note that auditors are not members of the stake audit committee, though a member of the stake audit committee may be an auditor.

The church has specific instructions on who attends pre and post audit meetings in a 2016 published PDF entitled "Stake Audit Committee".

Here is the current link:
https://www.lds.org/help/support/bc/cle ... f?lang=eng