New Audit Question

I was reviewing the latest audit forms and found this new question:

[align=left]Have all other action items more than one month old been cleared?[/align]
[/color][align=left]Review the Unit Financial Statement. If any other action items more than one month old have not been cleared,[/align]
mark “No.”

I wonder how this question should be interpreted. I see two alternatives:

(1) None of the action items on the last CUFS for the audit period are over one month old; or

(2) At no point during the audit period did an action item remain unresolved for more than one month.

For stake audits this is going to alway be an exception I imagine. Last time I looked at our stake CUFS, each unit in our stake had action items. I have no idea what all of them are other than to call each clerk and ask about what each action item is and frankly, I don't have the time to do that. Most seem to be outstanding checks more than a month old which is quite common and I don't feel it warrants a call to the clerk every other week to ask if the check has been cashed or not. Isn't that what the Outstanding Check form is for anyway?

BTW, how did you get a copy of the new audit form(s). We downloaded MLS 3.3 and the audit forms were the same ones we have been using for the last year or so. The new ones mentioned by the Audit Department in a letter dated 20 December are not updated in the newest version of MLS (3.3). I had to call the Audit Department and have them send me an email with the forms as an attachment. We were being proactive about training our auditors with the new forms (and new electronic method) but had no luck on the new audit web site or with MLS.

FFRsqpilot wrote:BTW, how did you get a copy of the new audit form(s).

We got them from our area auditor/trainer.

We would like to start training our auditors also. What is the number of the Audit Department? Thanks.

carlscpa wrote:We would like to start training our auditors also. What is the number of the Audit Department? Thanks.

The Church Auditing Department can be reached by phone at: 801-240-4018 (Salt Lake City area) or 1-800-453-3860, extension 2-4018

mlh78 wrote:I was reviewing the latest audit forms and found this new question:

[align=left]Have all other action items more than one month old been cleared?[/align]
[/color][align=left]Review the Unit Financial Statement. If any other action items more than one month old have not been cleared,[/align]
mark “No.”

I wonder how this question should be interpreted. I see two alternatives:

(1) None of the action items on the last CUFS for the audit period are over one month old; or

(2) At no point during the audit period did an action item remain unresolved for more than one month.

The new audit forms can also be found in MLS 3.3. You have to do a couple send/receives after updating/migrating to receive them, however.

I'm know my reply is not definitive, but the interpretation that coincides best with the old audit would be #1, that at the time of the audit, there are no "outstanding" issues (use to be reconciling items I believe).

crislapi wrote:I'm know my reply is not definitive, but the interpretation that coincides best with the old audit would be #1, that at the time of the audit, there are no "outstanding" issues (use to be reconciling items I believe).

To concur and clarify, I would note that the outstanding issues that are relevant are those listed in the financial statement for the last month of the audit period. If any action items that were more than a month old as of the end of the audit period are still unresolved as of the time of the audit, then an exception is warranted.

mlh78 wrote:Have all other action items more than one month old been cleared?
Review the Unit Financial Statement. If any other action items more than one month old have not been cleared, mark “No.”

This is question 23 in the audit form. I would like to add a comment/clarification about the word "other". To do so, I need to add question 22:

Have all outstanding checks more than 6 months old been cleared?
Review the Unit Financial Statement. If any outstanding checks are more than six months old, mark "No"

Any outstanding check, no matter how old, causes an action item on the UFS. Therefore, when reading these two question sequentially, my interpretation is that all action items for outstanding checks are ignored when answering #23 as they are handled separately in #22. So if the only action items on the UFS are for outstanding checks, #23 is answered Yes or N/A (as there are no other action items).

We got a letter and instructions asking us to do everything online (as far as the audit forms go) this year.

wrigjef wrote:We got a letter and instructions asking us to do everything online (as far as the audit forms go) this year.

What do you mean by "everything?" Starting last year, it was up to the stake to print their own forms from MLS. However, after that, everything was filled in by hand and mailed back in. I have not heard of any online submission system yet.

crislapi wrote:What do you mean by "everything?"

Our area audit supervisor provided us instructions on how to complete the entire audit process on-line where high speed internet is available. The auditor completes the audit online, the bishop enters his corrective action plan on line, other approvers sign/approve online. This is being implemented in most, but not all, areas of the United States beginning with the February audits.

lajackson wrote:Our area audit supervisor provided us instructions on how to complete the entire audit process on-line where high speed internet is available. The auditor completes the audit online, the bishop enters his corrective action plan on line, other approvers sign/approve online. This is being implemented in most, but not all, areas of the United States beginning with the February audits.

Hmm. That sounds great, but I haven't heard anything about that. But we live so far from CHQ (I can see the Church Office Building out my window where I work) that I can see how it might take a while for us to get the message.

aebrown wrote:Hmm. That sounds great, but I haven't heard anything about that. But we live so far from CHQ (I can see the Church Office Building out my window where I work) that I can see how it might take a while for us to get the message.

I will verify when I get home this evening, but I think you live in the "but not all" area that is not yet going online, sorry. We were told that one or two areas in the US went online last audit, but that there were server bandwidth issues. We have been told this is the reason that the entire US is not going live this time, but that the plan is eventually to have everyone online.

As I said, I will get the specifics this evening and post again (after FHE).

Our Area Auditor Trainer sent notice to our Stake Audit Committee Chairman a couple of weeks ago, that our area (and two or three others) were being "encouraged" to use the new online audit system for the 2010 year-end audits. The Committee Chairman and Stake Auditor positions are in the standard callings list. I was instructed to make the appropriate assignments in MLS and now these individuals have access via LDS Account to a new (well new for us) audit site off LDS.org. Our Area Auditor Trainer was told he'd be receiving training, but it had not been scheduled yet. Our audit committee is still discussing the pros and cons of using the new system, but seems to be leaning in that direction. A positive for us is that we have broadband connections for all our unit admin computers.

Based on the "huh?" reaction here and what Larry has reported, we apparently have been invited to play in the second round. Personally, I love the idea of doing the audits online in a fashion similar to the Missionary Online Recommendation System. The current system has a lot of paper to keep track of, make copies of, etc.

crislapi wrote:What do you mean by "everything?" Starting last year, it was up to the stake to print their own forms from MLS. However, after that, everything was filled in by hand and mailed back in. I have not heard of any online submission system yet.

Our area audior/trainer gave us some training on the online system before the last audit cycle, but evidently the system was not in place in time. Our training was consistent with Jeromer7's explanation. Hopefully it works this time around.

lajackson wrote:I will verify when I get home this evening, but I think you live in the "but not all" area that is not yet going online, sorry.

In all areas except Utah and Idaho, the 2010 year-end audits can be conducted and submitted using new online software. A Notice dated December 20th was sent to affected stake presidents.

Based on other materials we have received, including a December 13th Notice, it appears that the new system is a version of the paper forms that the auditor can fill out online as he audits the unit. This would require either high speed internet access from the administrative computer, or the auditor's own laptop and internet connection.

After the auditor completes the audit, the bishop logs in to complete the corrective action form and electronically sign the audit. Then others log in to approve and complete the audit in an order similar to the signatures on the audit forms. Anyone working electronically needs to have LDSAccount and be in MLS/CDOL in a standard position as a stake auditor, bishop, audit committee chairman, stake president, etc.

As an alternative, we can still complete the paper forms and mail them in for any individual unit (or all) in the stake.

I guess this one is just like MLS. It started away from Church Headquarters and moved inward.

(And yes, we had a wonderful Family Home Evening. Thanks for asking.)

Our stake received the letter (on the 20th of December) notifiying us of the electronic audit version. The Stake President member who is also the Audit Committee Chairman and I have discussed issues in depth and have decided that this time around we will stick with the paper version.

Our reasoning is thus; we have several units that are on dial up and don't have access to the audit web site. We also have several Family History Centers (4) with only one of them located in the stake center. We have not called (and at this point do not anticipate calling) a stake Family History Director and thus those four FHC directors are not found on the stake CDOL. Our main reason however is that during the CUBs conversion, we had 8 out of 10 units that had issues with the balances in the Other account after the conversion. We have tried diligently (many, many hours spent trying to resolve issues) and still have problems that show up in MLS. Those errors are going to show as exceptions on the audits because the Financial Statements sent out by Salt Lake do not match what is still in MLS. We intend to write this into the audit reports to let the auditors know that these exceptions are beyond our capability to repair and until bugs are fixed in MLS we will continue to have unresoved financial issues.

Our hope was that the problems would have been resolved prior to the end of the year but to date, they have not. Old computers that continue to crash, units that are still on dial-up, no Stake FHC director, and multiple CUBs issues have led us to the decision that going the paper route this time might be the better way to go. We have the new forms as they were sent to us via email from the Audit departement when the MLS web site download of MLS 3.3 had the old forms. Not sure that the normal download has corrected that but at least we have the proper forms to train our auditors with.

The fact is we have too many issues that need resolution which are beyond the stakes capabilities of fixing. With the paper forms we can sit down after the audit and make an educated synopsis of the issues found and let the Audit Department know that not every "exception" is due to errors on the stake and ward clerks part. By using the electronic version it appears that the forms are sent directly to SLC once the Stake President electronically signs them, thus not allowing the stake audit committee time to make comments that will hopefully clarify what I have discussed above.

We do hope that next time around our auditors will be fully trained, we will have newer computers (that hopefully don't crash unexpectedly), we will have all units up with internet access, and we will have these unresolved "Other Account" inbalances fixed. Hopefully this doesn't sound like sour grapes, but at least in our stake we believe the paper forms will better serve our purpose this time around.

FFRsqpilot wrote:Our stake received the letter (on the 20th of December) notifiying us of the electronic audit version. The Stake President member who is also the Audit Committee Chairman and I have discussed issues in depth and have decided that this time around we will stick with the paper version.

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

FFRsqpilot wrote:... the MLS web site download of MLS 3.3 had the old forms. Not sure that the normal download has corrected that but at least we have the proper forms to train our auditors with.

The download itself still has the old forms, but when you do a Send/Receive after installing MLS 3.3, you get the updated forms.

jeromer7 wrote:The Committee Chairman and Stake Auditor positions are in the standard callings list. I was instructed to make the appropriate assignments in MLS and now these individuals have access via LDS Account to a new (well new for us) audit site off LDS.org.

Any idea on the lag between adding the auditors in MLS and them having online access to complete the audit?

mlh78 wrote:Any idea on the lag between adding the auditors in MLS and them having online access to complete the audit?

I do not know, but I would suspect a day or two at the most. Entering the change into MLS and doing the Send/Receive will update the CDOL almost immediately. The delay will be in how long it takes the Audit system to recognize the change.

How do you identify the new Audit forms from the old ones?

barnold wrote:How do you identify the new Audit forms from the old ones?

At the bottom of the first page, on the right hand side, it will say "© 2010 IRI. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. 10/10. PD00001361".

The older forms said "© 2006, 2009 IRI. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. 12/08. 34244".

So your quick key is that "10/10" as opposed to the older "12/08".

About the timeline of the electronic audit...

At least in my stake in little ole' Alabama, we did the on-line audit for the 2010 mid-year in August. It worked very smoothly, and there were no issues with the technology. I was surprised that I (as a clerk) no longer needed to give my contact information as part of the audit.

I guess we were a pilot stake.

lajackson wrote:I do not know, but I would suspect a day or two at the most. Entering the change into MLS and doing the Send/Receive will update the CDOL almost immediately. The delay will be in how long it takes the Audit system to recognize the change.

Our Stake Clerk made the change over a week ago and we're getting started on audits tonight. I still don't have access to lds.org/audit and receive an error message "User has no valid assignments for this application." What does our clerk need specifically do so that I can access the site.

Thanks.

kerrykmiles wrote:Our Stake Clerk made the change over a week ago and we're getting started on audits tonight. I still don't have access to lds.org/audit and receive an error message "User has no valid assignments for this application." What does our clerk need specifically do so that I can access the site.

Thanks.

You were originally put in as a custom position Stake Auditor, which unfortunately doesn't do any good for getting access to the application. Yesterday your standard position as a Stake Auditor came up, the bad news is that it came up after the daily data pull. You will be in for tonight's. If everything goes well tomorrow morning you should be in the LDS account system.

cbweatherman wrote:I guess we were a pilot stake.

You were a pilot area. I think there was one other area, as well.