On Friday, April 7, 2006 an agreement was signed by the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania‘s Special Audit Committee (SAC) and Accounting, Tax & Advisory, LLC, (CBIZ) an independent auditor, to examine closely the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania=s Unrestricted Net Assets and the funding for its controversial Wapiti Project.
The special audit is the result of a mandate of the Diocese’s Special Convention held on Saturday, March 25, 2006. “The people of the Episcopal Diocese spoke clearly and said yes to a program budget which requires an independent audit to verify that there is $550,000.00 of Unrestricted Net Assets.”
The Special Convention was held after the annual Diocesan Convention in November, 2005 generated deep concern about the financial health of the Diocese. The Convention vote also required a Special Audit to verify how Unrestricted, Temporarily Restricted and Permanently Restricted Net Assets, have been spent and/or classified by the Diocese since 2003.
The CBIZ Accounting, Tax & Advisory, LLC is targeting two specific areas of concern:
•Net Assets Classifications of the Diocese
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•the Wapiti project.
Concerning the Net Assets Classifications, CBIZ will:
•Examine classifications of net assets as contained on the information provided by The Church Foundation;
•Work with legal counsel, retained by CBIZ, relative to proper identification of net assets
•Analyze transfers from net assets for 2003, 2004, and 2005; and
•Develop, if necessary, a schedule of amounts due to/from various net asset accounts
Concerning the Wapiti Project in Maryland, CBIZ will:
•Read documents regarding the project.
•Obtain and summarize expenditures from the project; and
•Identify sources of funds for the Wapiti project.
The Special Audit and the issue of clarity of financial reporting by the Diocese, especially the source of Unrestricted Net Assets and their expenditure by the Diocese, was brought to the attention of the delegates of the Special Convention by the coalition of Concerned Pennsylvania Episcopalians (CPE). CPE has led the quest for answers to these financial concerns for the past six months. Through intense communication efforts, the delegates of the Convention saw merit in our questioning, and thus they voted overwhelmingly for the Special Audit.
