Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues with part 2 on Fraud Prevention Programs – Fraud Reporting. We asked churches to respond to this statement: “Our church has established appropriate channels for reporting and resolving sensitive issues like fraud and illegal acts. (Examples include establishing an anonymous fraud hotline, posting notices, etc.)” Survey Results: Only 40% of the […]
Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Individual Payments: Contractors and Benevolence. We asked churches to respond to these statements: “Before paying an individual as an independent contractor, our church applies IRS compliant tests to determine if the payee qualifies as an independent contractor.” “Our church has written a policy to direct benevolence […]
Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Information Technology Security. We asked churches to respond to these statements: “Our church has a formal information technology security plan.” “Our church financial secretary or accountant/bookkeeper has access to all modules of the church’s software system.” Churches struggle to keep up with the challenges of the rapid change […]
Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Payroll Fraud and Phantom Employees. We asked churches to respond to these statements: “Someone not involved in the payroll preparation process distributes paychecks or direct deposit stubs.” “We review direct deposit account information for duplicate accounts.” Survey Results – Very few churches do any kind of employee […]
Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Payroll Fraud. PSK in cooperation with the National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA) conducted a survey to determine the extent of fraud awareness in the church environment. We asked churches to respond to this statement: “Each quarter we reconcile the total payroll amounts on the quarterly payroll reports (941s) to the […]
Part 5 of our series on Cash Disbursements. In our recent Fraud Survey, we asked churches to respond to these statements: “Our church issues credit cards (in the church’s name) to employees and/or volunteers.” “Our church has implemented a written credit card policy to control credit card purchases.” Survey Results – The first question had the largest variance […]
Part 4 of our series on Cash Disbursements. In our recent Fraud Survey, we asked churches to respond to this statement: “Our church has established a “Positive Pay” program with our bank.” Survey Results – Less than 5% of the respondents use such a program. While the phrase “Positive Pay” is the trade name of one commercial bank, […]
Part 3 of our series on Cash Disbursements. In our recent Fraud Survey, we asked churches to respond to this statement: “Our church has established an “approved vendor” list. All payments for goods or services are made only to vendors on the list.” Survey Results – Only 20% of the churches surveyed reported using an approved vendor list. […]
Part 2 of our series on Cash Disbursements. In our recent Fraud Survey, we asked churches to respond to this statement: “Our church uses pre-printed, pre-numbered purchase orders or check request forms to initiate purchases.” Survey results – The positive response to this question was extremely low, causing me to believe that the question was poorly worded. It […]
Part 7 of our series on Segregation of Duties. In our recent Fraud Survey, we asked churches to respond to this statement: “Our church requires volunteers to collect, administer and account for special event receipts using a written report developed to properly account for such events.” Survey Results – Once again, a little over one-half of our respondents […]