CHAPTER XIX. STATE FINANCIAL REVIEW GUIDELINES
Overview and Scope The financial review should include an examination of all the financial transactions of the organization. The records to be reviewed are those of the Business and Professional Women of Tennessee, Inc.( BPW / TN), including those kept by the treasurer and those kept for the annual convention, interim board, and the reports of the regional secretary / treasurers.
Committee The internal review committee will be comprised of the members of the Finance Committee, at least one of which will be a past state president and at least one of which has business experience in financial record keeping. It is helpful to have a member who is familiar with the annual convention and / or interim board finances to evaluate the appropriateness of convention or interim board financial transactions. Should a conflict of interest exist regarding the committee chair, the chair should be excluded from the financial review and a chair for the financial review appointed by the state president, with the approval of the Executive Committee, from the other members of the Finance committee. Should the conflict of interest involve a member of the Finance committee, an additional member should be appointed by the state president, with the approval of the Executive Committee, to ensure a minimum of three members performing the financial review.
Review Schedule The state treasurerʼs records, including the Convention / IB Account and any CDs, Savings Accounts, or investments, are to be turned over to the review committee 45 days after the close of state convention. The convention records are to be turned over to the state treasurer no later than ten( 10) days after the close of the convention. The committeeʼs final report is due to the Executive Committee on or before the Executive Committee meeting prior to Interim Board.
The financial review begins with the assembly of the records, noting whether all required information has been made available. All committee members must meet at a central location to conduct the review. Committee members should assess the reasonableness of the reports submitted, i. e., do the reports make sense given the nature and activities of BPW / TN.
Procedures 1. Is the financial record complete?
A complete set of financial records would include:
� all bank statements and cancelled checks or their images
� all paid invoices and / or approved payment vouchers
� all checks voided
� all statements reporting invested funds
� a bank reconciliation report for each month of the year
� a complete check register
� a monthly operating statement
� a statement of assets and liabilities in sufficient detail for Executive Committee and Board use
� a final financial statement as of the close of the fiscal year, June 30 th
NOTE: The committee should decide whether or not to review all transactions based upon the completeness and condition of the records and reports made available to them. In general, the better order the records and reports are in, the less testing of transactions will be indicated. In the event that records are in poor condition, it may be necessary for the review committee to reconstruct the financial activities of the state organization in order to complete its work; if this step is necessary, it should be included in the committeeʼs report.
2. Review all minutes for transaction authorizations. These may include but are not limited to the following: Investment transfers, significant expenditures, changes of financial institutions, and the like.( A copy of all minutes of the Executive Committee and Board should be obtained and reviewed for approval of certain expenditures. The convention records will not necessarily have all of the above reports on a monthly basis but should be reviewed for completeness.)
3. Review randomly selected disbursement transactions to ensure that the payment was made to the correct person or entity, was appropriately approved according to BPW / TN policy, and was correctly recorded 4. Prove the mathematical accuracy of several selected bank reconciliations. 5. Determine that the checks listed on the check register are accounted for, either as cashed, voided or outstanding. 6. Compare the final bank reconciliation of the organization year to the amount of cash reported on the final financial report. 52 July 2009