2009 Independent Audit released
The independent audit of the Orthodox Church in America’s financial records for the year ending December 31, 2009 has been completed.
The report of the auditors, Lambrides, Lamos, Taylor LLP, is now available in PDF format.
“We anticipate that this is the final year for which a ‘qualified opinion’ will be issued”, said Melanie Ringa, OCA Treasurer. “In conjunction with the 2009 audit, extensive work was performed on reconstructing the net asset accounts into their proper unrestricted, temporarily restricted and permanently restricted classifications. This project will be completed this year with the intention of removing the qualification for the 2010 audit. In addition, the recent resolution by the Metropolitan Council to return title to the Diocese of Alaska of all the real estate in Alaska that the national Church has held in trust since 1867 will remove the final obstacle to achieving an ‘unqualified’ audit opinion.”
Ms. Ringa also noted that “the financial results for 2009 show total revenues of $2,730,977, total operating expenses of $2,245,192, with a net surplus from operations of $485,785, prior to expenses related to depreciation and amortization, legal fees and an accrual for the legal settlement related to the Kondratick lawsuits. After accounting for these charges, the final result for 2009 was a deficit of $276,818.” She pointed out that “the decision to accrue the legal settlement in 2009 was made in order to comply with the recently issued Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 165, Subsequent Events. This standard applies to accounting periods ending after June 15, 2009, and requires that events occurring AFTER the accounting period date (in our case December 31, 2009) but before the financial report issuance date (in our case September 23, 2010) that provide additional information about conditions that existed at the accounting period date be recorded in that period.”
Ms. Ringa pointed out that “in comparing the Statement of Activities for the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, it is critical to note that while our total revenues decreased by $278,237 from $3,099,214 in 2008 to $2,730,977 in 2009, our total expenses before the legal fees and settlement decreased by $1,167,136 from $3,412,328 in 2008 to $2,245,192 in 2009, or 34.2%.
“Our Statement of Financial Position shows total assets of $2,275,812, liabilities of $1,805,306 (which includes the accrual of $250,000 for the settlement paid in May, 2010), and net assets of $470,506,” she concluded.