Order for Commodities

I'm the local auditor and I've found a couple minor discrepancies on Bishop's Order for Commodities. My question is-where do we draw the line on when to mark False on #15? One of the units order shows under "Fresh Fruits" 2 of Quantity Ordered and 10 of Quantity Filled. I'm pretty sure it was probably 2 bags that are 5lbs each and therefore 10lbs but I wonder if I should mark it False? Thanks for any suggestions.

jvoran wrote:I'm the local auditor and I've found a couple minor discrepancies on Bishop's Order for Commodities. My question is-where do we draw the line on when to mark False on #15? One of the units order shows under "Fresh Fruits" 2 of Quantity Ordered and 10 of Quantity Filled. I'm pretty sure it was probably 2 bags that are 5lbs each and therefore 10lbs but I wonder if I should mark it False? Thanks for any suggestions.

The authoritative source would be your stake audit committee; I'd ask them for guidance.

But as a former auditor and current stake financial clerk, I can give my opinion. The bishop's storehouse doesn't always have exactly what is ordered in stock, so they sometimes need to make adjustments, substituting a somewhat different item that is still within the intent of the bishop's order. They are trying to help those in need, which is the goal of this whole effort. If there is no good reason to suspect any kind of fraud, and the difference is relatively small, I personally would not mark an audit exception. But again, your stake audit committee would be able to answer the question as to how strict or lax your stake wants to be in this particular area.

We ask each bishop to initial any and all discrepancies. At the bishop's descreption, they typically ask the ward clerk to review each order when the yellow copy is sent back from the storehouse. If there are any discrepancies the clerk presents them to the bishop for review indicating that he (the bishop) has investigated and resolved the differences.

If the auditor finds any discrepancies between the pink and yellow copies, the auditor marks this as an exception. At the end of the audit when the auditor reviews the findings with the bishop, he (the bishop) reviews the discrepancies and notes them as being insignificant and the exception is noted that exception has been corrected (but the exception is still listed on the audit report).

During the audit committee's review of the audits, the stake presidency councilor may ask the auditor specifics about the discrepancy to determine if it was significant and warrants further review with the bishop.

For the most part, we have the bishops and clerks trained to make sure all of these discrepancies are reviewed and initialed by the bishop in preparing for the semi-annual audits.

Thank you both for your response!