Often at smaller charities, it falls within the responsibilities of the finance committee or the executive committee.) The committee provides an important oversight layer between the management of the organization, which is responsible for the financial information reported, and the independent accountant, who reviews the financials and issues an opinion based on its findings. (It is not necessary that the audit committee be a separate committee. They should be prepared by an independent accountant with oversight from an audit committee. (More)Īudited financial statements provide important information about financial accountability and accuracy. In this case, we deduct 15 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score.Īudited Financials Prepared by Independent Accountant.

No Credit: There has been a diversion of assets within the last two years and the charity's explanation on Schedule O is either non-existent or not sufficient.In this situation, we deduct 7 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. Partial Credit: There has been a diversion of assets within the last two years and the charity has used Schedule O on the Form 990 to explain: the nature of the diversion, the amount of money or property involved and the corrective action taken to address the matter.This metric will be assigned to one of the following categories:įull Credit: There has been no diversion of assets within the last two years. If the charity does report a diversion, then we check to see if it complied with the Form 990 instructions by describing what happened and its corrective action. We check the charity's last two Forms 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets. (More)Ī diversion of assets – any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft – can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. Our analysts check the Form 990 to determine if the independent Board members are a voting majority and also at least five in number. (More) The presence of an independent governing body is strongly recommended by many industry professionals to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters.

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