2^nd Day  Workshop for Provincial Treasurers FIC 2014.

We opened our day with an opening prayer-service. The theme of the prayer was  Sharing Part of our Properties as Gifts to the Needy, but do not Make a Big Show of it. This theme reminds us on how to be compassionate with the needy in general.

The main topics of the morning sessions were Financial Management and Administrative Organization.

The two topics stressed on how to manage our finances. The main points of the sessions were based on the lights of Our Constitutions, Code of Canon Law and other laws and agreements. The Reports called Financial Statements and the like must show how to deal with all transactions with good calculation of the expenses and income, how to take care of provisions, how to become financially self-reliant, especially in the near future. There is a need of having a Financial Advisory Committee (FAC). The role of this FAC is to calculate and predict the financial situations and on how to manage in a professional way.

The second topic was about Administrative Organization. This has much to do with collecting more information, recording properly information concerning money like minutes of financial meetings in order to follow up what has been discussed. To be open to get help from other people in doing the bookkeeping work. Being in-charge of finance cannot be always the responsibility of one or two persons.

At the same time, try to avoid a lot of double functions. ‘Separation of Functions’ is very much needed for efficiency of the work. Controlling in Administrative Organization of dealing with financial accounts can reduce malpractices. Transparency and accountability can develop in good organizations that ask high discipline like reporting financial transactions in time and keeping all records concerning money in order, also by involving the help from internal and external auditors.

The presenter of these topics highlighted again and again self-reliance, because the financial situations of religious congregations are declining, including the FIC Congregation. The income from the Netherlands is going down drastically for there are only very few brothers who are on pension scheme. There are no reliable provisions that could contribute to the income of our Congregation. Therefore, self-reliance needs to be developed because the economic situation cannot be predicted from time to time. So it is advisable to maintain good relationships with donors in many aspects.

In the afternoon, the topics were Budgeting and Reporting. The budget proposal must be realistic with the needs of the provinces. Regular evaluations can control the awareness of the budget implementation.

This may help much on making the budget every year. In order to make sound accounting and budgeting policies, the presenter introduced proposed uniformity models of categories called charts for both provincial councils and communities. The participants discussed the models with the presenter and there are still some changes to accommodate the experiences of the provinces. The discussion was going quite deep in order to come to agreement in how to handle our finances, especially in the accounts of the provinces, both provincial councils and communities.

By Brother Ivo Heatubun