This is some good spin doctoring from Gerald Weston over 2020 income levels.
Remember brethren, our numbers are not always what they appear to be...trust us though, we have always told you the truth and would NEVER be deceptive, even in the slightest measure.
Greetings from Charlotte,
Most of us do very simple accounting. We keep records of money deposited in and withdrawn from the bank to find the bottom line of what we have. However, when it comes to business accounting for non-profits like Living Church of God, things are not so straightforward. Those not familiar with GAAP accrual accounting practices may find things a bit confusing. For example, if we were notified of an estate donation in November of 2015, we had to estimate the amount and put it on the books as a receivable asset for 2015, even though we may not have received the money until 2016. Therefore, if we had a large estate “booked” in the income column in 2015 and none in 2016, it makes 2015 look better than it was when it comes to what we had in the bank, and 2016 look worse than it was, when in fact the actual money arrived and was expensed that year. This happens every year to one degree or another, and 2020 was no exception. We booked some onetime extraordinary items last year in 2020, but much of the actual money will not be received until this year. Nevertheless, 2020 was a very good year for the Work. We had an 8.6 percent increase over 2019 in regular tithes and donations (that was money put in the bank), plus we had some estate income arrive during the year that was booked previously in 2019. Additionally, some estates were booked in 2020 and we expect them to actually arrive this year, although the amounts and times of arrival are often difficult to predict. This may seem like a crazy way to do things, but this is standard GAAP accounting practice required by U.S. law and our independent auditors, and I wanted to explain this to help you understand our annual financial reports when they are published. The details of these transactions are published in the “Notes” portion of the audited financial statement, which can be found on the lcg.org website.—Gerald Weston
As the former Worldwide Church of God accounting department supervisor once said, "We can take any set of numbers and make then mean whatever we want." It is no coincidence that this man went with Meredith.
7 comments:
I'd like to know how they spin the numbers to seem as if there is an 8.6% increase with so many leaving to join up with Monson. Is that increase overall, or from Canada? Maybe Australia or New Zealand? No way that can be from the USA.
So people who die have left LCG with funds that's already been spent...
How "nice" of y'all.
Makes me feel better about leaving & going through being hassled by my step-dad to listen to whatever (which I put a stop to btw LOL)
@ 2:16 PM, WCG/splinter finance people have long known that people usually stop tithing for some time before they leave a group. Many of those who left with Monson would already have cut back or stopped tithing to LCG months or even years earlier, which means their mid-2020 departure wouldn't cause a mid-2020 drop in income. In fact, judging by Weston's recent spending spree, LCG's income-per-attendee must have increased significantly in 2020.
Simple, just reveal the line items for regular donations, and how much in estate donations and show a five year trend.
Not brain surgery here.
A church where estate donations make up a significant portion of their income is a dying church.
eh, it's just accounting practices...most people know nothing about it...
we don't list receivables in our check register until they are received, but businesses do as they are considered an asset.
Its just cash vs accrual accounting--however the question is why is he prepping people in this way? Maybe they had some good estates in 2020, and don't want people to think "stop giving to us because we are rolling in it". It seems to be just a prelim to making some spin on the 2020 figures. It is strange because there is no real update here (the 2020 financials aren't even available yet)--was he struggling for things to put in the update for this week? I do appreciate the transparency (especially dealing with other peoples money)--now lets put a note in the financials disclosing executive remuneration and benefits for LCG. HWA did this (once at least) and revealed that he was earning at least $200k of base salary in 1979. Transparency and accountability are good things.
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