Conducted by the Office of Finance, Diocese of Trenton.
I am pleased to provide this summary of the internal audit report sent to me by the Diocesan Office of Finance. It has been reviewed by the Chair of the Finance Council, Deacon Kevin O'Boyle, who was also sent a copy of the full report. The audit is routine, and was conducted from May 14 – 30 of this year for the FYE (fiscal year ending) 6/30/12.
~ Msgr. Gervasio
General Observations
The parish is financially stable with reserves and is debt-free.
The parish engages Cohn-Resnick, LLP, of Eatontown for regular reviews of the general ledger, bank statement reconciliations, and journal entries.
The investment mix is conservative and is maintained by Merrill Lynch.
All monetary transfers were traced and supported by documentation.
All collections agree with control sheets and are deposited within a day.
All expenditures are properly classififed and paid in a timely way.
Invoices supported expenditures and properly charged to the general ledger.
Files in both school and church are comprehensive and orderly.
Credit card expenditures were supported by receipts and seemed appropriate.
All tenants are current in payment of rent.
All personnel files contained required documentation.
Virtus (Child Protection) files were in order.
Observations regarding School K-8 / Religious Education Program
In 2012, the parish subsidy to the school totaled $571,000 (i.e, 28% of school budget and 44% of parish weekly collections). This has been reduced in 2013 to $450,000 (i.e, 20% of the school budget and 35% of the parish weekly collections). According to diocesan guidelines, a school subsidy should never exceed 40% of weekly collection revenue, and experience indicates that 30% is a more viable level. Using these guidelines, the school subsidy is at the extreme upper limits of the parish's ability to support the school.
Tuition for the Religious Education program totaled $42,000 (i.e, 45% of the program cost).
Recommendations
The auditor offered a few recommendations on minor points of our accounting and payroll procedures that were immediately addressed and implemented by the end of the audit period.