Recently I have made a few e-mails public. Today is occasion for one more. It was the biggest scandal of my ministry. I was accused, at the end of my city ministry, of falsely accusing finance officers of theft. Here is perhaps the crucial e-mail in the matter, which was written by me, confidentially, to Church officers. Does this reveal accusations of theft? Did I exercise sufficient caution? You be the judge. For context, I was passing on observations of a chartered accountant, who had spent several days with the files.
On Sat, 2012-12-29 at 10:45 +0200, Rev. Thomas Scarborough wrote:
Dear Elders and Deacons,
I think I need to be more open still. I had the audit checked confidentially, especially the income sheet, also our accounts -- which I think was the responsible thing to do under the circumstances. I am told that -- as best I know how to pass it on:
But no matter what, we do need openness and relaxedness about our finances, not this jumpiness. And this highlights again that we need to place all invoices before the Diaconate for consideration and decision, and I do think we need to minute our payments every month. Then we should be sure to avoid this kind of thing.
Every blessing,
Thomas.
OBSERVATION: Behind this e-mail, I made it clear that I harboured no suspicion of theft or similar. I think that exists on tape, too, somewhere. However more recently, a bank and a regulator reported fraud (not theft), and made major recommendations.
On Sat, 2012-12-29 at 10:45 +0200, Rev. Thomas Scarborough wrote:
Dear Elders and Deacons,
I think I need to be more open still. I had the audit checked confidentially, especially the income sheet, also our accounts -- which I think was the responsible thing to do under the circumstances. I am told that -- as best I know how to pass it on:
It seems that about R30,000 is missing,We need to note that this is merely an audit, and a double-check could well be mistaken, and the reality may be quite different. I understand little about such things, so again, the few of us, please don't send me angry mail -- it really is my responsibility to place such things on record, then the deacons have the responsibility to see what is the case. The finances are a complicated job, with many ins and outs, and we are deeply thankful to those who have taken care of this task, and I trust that all will fall into place.
It seems that about one-fifth of payments are not properly accounted for, and
It seems that there are about R15,000 discrepancies with actual.
But no matter what, we do need openness and relaxedness about our finances, not this jumpiness. And this highlights again that we need to place all invoices before the Diaconate for consideration and decision, and I do think we need to minute our payments every month. Then we should be sure to avoid this kind of thing.
Every blessing,
Thomas.
OBSERVATION: Behind this e-mail, I made it clear that I harboured no suspicion of theft or similar. I think that exists on tape, too, somewhere. However more recently, a bank and a regulator reported fraud (not theft), and made major recommendations.
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