Audit

[FScouter]

"No one needs a reason to post on this forum, nor do they need to account to anyone for their posts."

 

No reasons required at all. But look at the opening post. If one hopes to get any useful information, a few details and some context would help. Rampant speculation usually doesn't help much.

[Stosh]

By looking at the original post, wouldn't it appear obvious that unless one has done such an audit, their "input" and speculation isn't necessary. Because it is a rarity that such requests be made, someone with prior experience was being sought for some insight. It is obvious that the number of those who have done such an audit is rather low if not zero. If I was asked to do such an audit, I would think knowing what others might have done in the past would be quite helpful. Even if there was no one ever before being asked to do such an audit, that in and of itself is good to know.

 

It is rather irrelevant to know why he is doing the audit or even what series of events lead up to someone requesting him to look into something. The fact remains he was asked, and he sought out those on the forum for any assistance they might have with any experience they might have had with a similar situation. I just thought that 3 pages of run-around and accusations really wasn't helping this guy out with his situation.

 

Stosh

[FScouter]

At the risk of being argumentative and unhelpful, I dont think anyone is trying to give the guy the run-around nor is making accusations. BSA doesnt have any advice on how to do an audit, or even what an audit might be. The Commission Helps points out characteristics of successful units and how a commissioner can assist a unit get back on track, but its hard to know if that would help since none of us know what the problem is. Its unheard of (until now) that a district executive would ask a person to conduct an audit without explaining to that person what the objective is.

 

Its a little difficult to help come up with useful help if were left to speculate what the problem is. If the problem is simply unit leadership and finances, I guess the answers may be found in the commonly available trainings and other resources every unit has available.

[Eagle1984]

I'm going to side with BobWhite on this one. The DE should not be involved with financial issues of a unit, only the CO should be concerned with the finaces as anything/everything the unit has actually belongs to them(the CO) anyway.

 

As the COR for a local unit, I can request an audit, should the CO feel it necessary, if there are monetary issues.Currently there are none.

 

The DE should only be concerned with the unit itself and worry more about the scouts/scouters. Too many people forget the chain of command and where it starts and stops:

 

#1 Unit Level(try solving problems locally before going to #2)

#2 District(should stay here and never go to #3 unless absolutely necessary)

#3 Council(only the DE or DD should get involved if absolutely necessary, and never go to #4)

#4 National( too many people cry wolf and go directly to this, only to have the issue sent right back to council and then to district)This should never happena as it makes the council and district look like they don't know how to handle problems or issues on thier own.

[shortridge]

To answer the original question:

 

Youth protection and safety rules could be another part of the audit. However, it seems like examining a lot of the topics suggested here depend entirely on the unit's own record-keeping - and if there are questions about its leadership, the records may not be up to snuff to begin with.

 

If the troop is large enough to have a Web site and troop e-mail accounts, or if the leaders use private, noncommercial dedicated accounts for their Scouting work, those records could also be examined, if permission and passwords are provided. (I can't see a business easily turning over its e-mail records to a stranger because an employee also uses a business account for occasional Scout work.) But it largely depends on the nature of the questions regarding the unit leadership.

 

On issues raised by others:

 

* I can think of several good reasons why the CO and DE would like a non-commissioner doing a "Scouting audit." Perhaps the commissioner in this case is part of the problem. Perhaps other commissioners simply don't want to touch the situation with a 10-foot-pole. Perhaps they're all old buddies of the SM. Who knows?

 

* If I were a COR who brought my CO's concerns about finances and the unit in general to the district leadership for advice, and the DE knew of an experienced Scouter with a finance background, I'd jump at the opportunity to have him tackle both angles at once. (Since I'm assuming the work is being done for free, I'd jump even higher if I represented a nonprofit CO with a limited budget to spend on a conventional CPA-style audit.)

 

Makes sense to me.

[HOVCDog]

It should be standard practice to audit a Troops books every year. I’ve been involved with multiple civic organizations from A-Z and it is standard practice with every single one…

[T2Eagle]

4 hours ago, HOVCDog said:

It should be standard practice to audit a Troops books every year. I’ve been involved with multiple civic organizations from A-Z and it is standard practice with every single one…

Welcome to the forums. 

Interesting thread to resurrect.  Any particular reason you did?

Coincidentally, a discussion of audits came up in my unit recently.  As you cite, many civic organizations have standards for when an audit should or must occur.  One of the things we reminded ourselves during our discussion is that we are not "an organization" in the conventional sense.  We are a subset of a larger organization, the Chartering Organization, in my case a Catholic parish.  Our books, our funds, our bank account are not ours --- they're the parish's.  It's not really for us to open them up for outsiders to see.  The parish has its own financial guidelines and procedures, but even if they didn't, any decision to disclose to a third party or outside authority is for the CO to make, not us.

As a result of the thoughts above about the control of financial information being held by the CO, on the council form for fundraising there is a question about the troop's bank balance.  I never answer that.  The troop doesn't have a bank account, the CO does.  If council wants to know about that they can go through the parish --- who generally won't answer.

[5thGenTexan]

One of our parents in a police officer and is involved in their Explorer program.  Some new Council guy came in and expressed his interest in auditing them.  It was explained several times they were part of the city govt and no one is going to get access to the account info for the Explorer Unit.  Our parent went to the Police Chief and explained what happened.  Police Chief's directive was to continue the program for this year, but they need to figure out something else next year because they will NOT be returning to the Explorer program.

[fred8033]

40 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

One of our parents in a police officer and is involved in their Explorer program.  Some new Council guy came in and expressed his interest in auditing them.  It was explained several times they were part of the city govt and no one is going to get access to the account info for the Explorer Unit.  Our parent went to the Police Chief and explained what happened.  Police Chief's directive was to continue the program for this year, but they need to figure out something else next year because they will NOT be returning to the Explorer program.

This is another stumble during the ugly dance we call chartering.   Who's leading and who's following?  Who's responsible?  BSA needs to move away from a "membership" model and move toward a service fee model for using the BSA program.  Or, BSA needs to take ownership and responsibility for the units.  

[MattR]

10 hours ago, 5thGenTexan said:

One of our parents in a police officer and is involved in their Explorer program.  Some new Council guy came in and expressed his interest in auditing them.  It was explained several times they were part of the city govt and no one is going to get access to the account info for the Explorer Unit.  Our parent went to the Police Chief and explained what happened.  Police Chief's directive was to continue the program for this year, but they need to figure out something else next year because they will NOT be returning to the Explorer program.

This is a people problem compounded by bad communication that is easily solved.

Maybe the council exec and the chief of police should go have a cup of coffee together and get to know each other.