Trustees have a legal duty to take adequate steps to protect against and detect bribery, fraud, financial abuse and other irregularities. It is important to implement and monitor sound financial controls and procedures. Minimise the potential for fraud by taking the following steps.
Year End Procedure
- The superintendent minister (or other nominated minister) or senior steward should examine the year-end statements from the bank, Central Finance Board (CFB) and the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes (TMCP).
- If there has been a long delay in the presentation of the year-end financial statements, the Church Council, Circuit Meeting or Synod should carry out an investigation quickly.
- A senior steward or minister should accompany the treasurer at the sign-off meeting with the auditor/independent examiner (IE).
Division of responsibility
- Wherever possible avoid a concentration of financial responsibility into one or two people. Ideally, have different people as treasurer, Gift Aid secretary, counters of the offertories and controllers of the envelope scheme.
The Charity Commission offers further guidance on how to protect against fraud.
What to do if you suspect fraud has taken place
- Where money has been lost or stolen due to fraud or cybercrime (eg, an email hacking incident), this should be reported to Action Fraud. Click here for information on how to report an incident of fraud.
- If the church or circuit affected is a registered charity, a serious incident report should be made to the Charity Commission, stating the allegations or concerns that have been raised. The report can be filed online via the Charity Commission pages. Click here for information on how report a serious incident.
- The trustees should also notify their bank, the Circuit Superintendent, District Chair/treasurer, TMCP and Methodist Insurance.
- Please contact the Connexional Team for guidance on other action which may need to be taken: lcp@methodistchurch.org.uk
Cyber Security
Cybercrime is becoming increasingly common and churches would be prudent to review their online security and remain vigilant. Click here to view guidance from The Charity Commission on how to protect from cyber crime.
The National Cyber Security Centre also has useful information and action plans that can be freely accessed -click here to view.