Dioceses urged to make parishes improve accounting

Published: 2007-01-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A national advisory Accounting Practices Committee has urged the U.S. bishops to institute tighter internal controls over finances in the nation's 19,000 parishes. Its recommendations included establishing clear diocesan policies about conflict of interest, protection of whistle-blowers and a fraud policy that would include prosecution in all cases. It also called for each diocese to require every parish to submit an annual report to the bishop on the names and professional titles of the members of the parish finance council, dates the council met, when it approved the parish budget and what budget information was given to parishioners and when. The report should include a copy of the parish's published financial statement, it said. The committee, a lay group of certified public accountants convened to advise the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, met in Washington Jan. 11-12. Its recommendations were released by the USCCB the following week.

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