You can see his name listed here on those who left UCG: http://ambassadorreports.blogspot.com/2011/01/ucg-v-cogawa-war-update.html (about 40th elder down)
The Journal also mentions McNeely in 2004 http://www.thejournal.org/issues/issue94/ucgbsndy.html Melton McNeely of UCG from Hawkins TX (where this auditing firm is also located).
You would think they would have learned a lesson from having Stan Rader as a church auditor and the mess that it caused . But no. The COG's seem to conveniently be able to forget the past because they think they are far more enlightened today.
On this one, let's give credit where credit is due. Unlike most of the other groups, LCG not only has a professional (not Church members) independent auditor review it's books yearly, it has for something like the last 10 years published the audit every year in it's member magazine, both in years where the numbers were good and in years where the numbers weren't so good. How many of the other COGs have kept their financials as transparent as LCG's?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if McNeely and McNeely will get McBaptized in a McBathtub in Japan.
ReplyDeleteWould that be a McDouble... with extra cheese?
Will COGWA try to supersize this?
So many questions, so few answers...
-Norm
Finally we got to Dallas
ReplyDeleteSpecial offerings don't upset us
All we ask is that you send your tithes our way
Send them our way
Send them our way
Send them our way at Cogger King
(Apologies to Burger King.)
-Norm
Auditing your OWN books is NOT 'auditing,' no accountability except to your minister.
ReplyDeleteRemind you of anyone else? [The F*E*D]?
p.s. My 'word verification' was 'jumath.'
Get it? Jew math....that's COG self-auditing in a nutshell.
The proverb about foxes and henhouses definitely fits here.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who works in the compliance field (guess all that legalism was good for something;) this is not considered appropriate.
The auditor is supposed to be entirely independent and without bias so that the risk for any improprieties to be buried or the auditor to be unduly influenced are mitigated.
UCG has tended to have an outside auditor over the years as well.
ReplyDeleteDo we know if the McNeelys are being paid to do this audit? Or are they doing it as a free service to COGWA?
If it's the latter, that may tell us a lot about the financial picture right there.
You may want to do some fact checking next time. McNeely and McNeely are serving as accountants, not auditors. They've been contracted to handle the books of the COGWA. This prevents them from being able to audit the books based on accounting standards and practices.
ReplyDeleteCPAs and accounting firms will often serve as the accounting department for smaller businesses and non-profits that might not know how to handle those functions. It's also cheaper than having an entire department. A couple members of COGWA that already have a firm and working as accountants are hardly any more of a scandal than a corporation having an internal accounting department.
I recall UCG also used McNeely and McNeely in accounting matters at some point--though whether they served as the accountants or just in consulting services. It's also likely that UCG no longer uses their services these days.
Annymous said, "On this one, let's give credit where credit is due. Unlike most of the other groups, LCG not only has a professional (not Church members) independent auditor review it's books yearly, it has for something like the last 10 years published the audit every year in it's member magazine, both in years where the numbers were good and in years where the numbers weren't so good".
ReplyDeleteMY COMMENT - Funny you mention this. Over last weekend, I was throwing out my late mother's LCG collection of publications and found the member magazine with the aforementioned financial statements. I was actually impressed by the LCG financial disclosure.
It also gave indication of the size and scale of the LCG business.In 2007, LCG had $11.8 Million in revenue, and $5.3 Million in assets.
Obviously, the LCG is only a small shell of what the former WCG was.
Richard
Actually, COGWA claims McNeely and McNeely as their accountants, but accountants also normally do auditing work which is referred to as inside auditing. External Auditing is when an non-affiliated auditing firm is supposed to be used. If McNeely and McNeely also do the yearly external audit for COGWA, then what they were called originally is irrelevant. Whatever they're called, it just looks strange, when you add that there were credible reports of theft of UCG funds in Florida.
ReplyDelete