That being said, the church has strict record-keeping protocols in place to ensure that nobody at the congregational level has their hand in the till. Stricter than some businesses, in fact.
Each person's donations have to be entered manually into a computerized system known as "MLS" (it's an abbreviation; I want to say "Member and Leader Services"). Once that's done, a final tally has to be done to ensure that every single cent of the day's donations is accounted for. The two people doing the processing must then digitally sign a document certifying that everything is in order.
At that point, MLS simultaneously sends the digital information off to Salt Lake and prints off physical copies of the day's paperwork, which must be physically signed. These documents, plus the white slips and the tear strip off of the bank deposit bag, must be put together in an envelope and kept in storage for a minimum of two years. This produces both a physical and a digital paper trail for every last donation.
Once that's all done, both parties must go together to deposit the deposit bag with the offerings at the designated drop-off point, usually the night deposit box of whatever bank the local congregation has its account set up at.
A similarly strict policy is in place for people seeking reimbursement for church-related expenses. Paperwork must be filled out, receipts must be included, the information must be input into MLS, and the check MLS spits out must be signed by two authorized parties whose signatures are on record. The checks are formatted so that each check prints with *two* stubs, one of which must be archived along with the MLS print-out, the paperwork, and the receipts. God help you if the check doesn't print properly, as re-setting MLS to print a new check is a task on par with changing a fan belt.
Then there's the audit process...
No seriously, you get audited twice a year to make sure that all of your paperwork is in order. The auditor will look at everything from the previous six months, and if the situation warrants it can go back further. I remember one audit where the auditor checked an envelope put together on a day where someone other than me was the #2 person. The other person (IIRC, a new clerk who was being trained by a member of the clergy) used a paperclip to hold some important documents together instead of a staple; one of the pages from that document had gotten separated as a result, and so we ended up practically having to tear apart that filing cabinet to find it. (We did, after about ten minutes.)
Yeah.
Each person's donations have to be entered manually into a computerized system known as "MLS" (it's an abbreviation; I want to say "Member and Leader Services"). Once that's done, a final tally has to be done to ensure that every single cent of the day's donations is accounted for. The two people doing the processing must then digitally sign a document certifying that everything is in order.
At that point, MLS simultaneously sends the digital information off to Salt Lake and prints off physical copies of the day's paperwork, which must be physically signed. These documents, plus the white slips and the tear strip off of the bank deposit bag, must be put together in an envelope and kept in storage for a minimum of two years. This produces both a physical and a digital paper trail for every last donation.
Once that's all done, both parties must go together to deposit the deposit bag with the offerings at the designated drop-off point, usually the night deposit box of whatever bank the local congregation has its account set up at.
A similarly strict policy is in place for people seeking reimbursement for church-related expenses. Paperwork must be filled out, receipts must be included, the information must be input into MLS, and the check MLS spits out must be signed by two authorized parties whose signatures are on record. The checks are formatted so that each check prints with *two* stubs, one of which must be archived along with the MLS print-out, the paperwork, and the receipts. God help you if the check doesn't print properly, as re-setting MLS to print a new check is a task on par with changing a fan belt.
Then there's the audit process...
No seriously, you get audited twice a year to make sure that all of your paperwork is in order. The auditor will look at everything from the previous six months, and if the situation warrants it can go back further. I remember one audit where the auditor checked an envelope put together on a day where someone other than me was the #2 person. The other person (IIRC, a new clerk who was being trained by a member of the clergy) used a paperclip to hold some important documents together instead of a staple; one of the pages from that document had gotten separated as a result, and so we ended up practically having to tear apart that filing cabinet to find it. (We did, after about ten minutes.)
Yeah.
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