Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Financial Audit Question

[S. Kashdan (s_kashdan]

At Jackson Place Cohousing, in Seattle, Washington, I think we have had 
three financial audits during the eighteen years we have been functioning. 
We have had a very good professional account, a woman who ran her own 
successful business for several years, and some very competent people with 
managerial jobs as part of our finance team. We have had divided 
responsibilities and changing of treasurers every two years. We also make 
all of the accounting records available to any resident who wants to look at 
them.

We have chosen to have financial audits even though we have not been worried 
about fraud.

We chose to have those three audits to make sure our financial records are 
in order for banks and other institutions that grant our homeowners 
mortgages and other such checks.

Also for general openness.

Cohousingly,
Sylvie

Sylvie Kashdan
Community Outreach Liaison
Jackson Place Cohousing
800 Hiawatha Place South
Seattle, WA 98144
www.seattlecohousing.org
info [at] jacksonplacecohousing.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Diana Carroll" <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
To: "Cohousing-L" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: "Mac Thomson" <macthomson [at] me.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2019 7:03 AM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Financial Audit Question


FWIW, our interest in an audit isn't so much about making sure there's no
malfeasance, but to make sure our totally amateur accountant (me) hasn't
wildly screwed anything up.

I wish we had a you in our community to back me up!  In that case I think
an audit would be less essential.

Diana

On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 9:53 AM Mac Thomson via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> At Heartwood Cohousing we’ve never had an audit, or really even considered
> it. We’ve been around for 20 years.
>
> I oversee our books, but don’t do the bookkeeping. I feel that we have
> enough checks and balances and internal controls in place that an audit
> wouldn’t be needed. But maybe I’m being naive.
>
> FWIW, in a previous lifetime I was a CPA and auditor with a public
> accounting firm.
>
> --
> Mac Thomson
>
> Heartwood Cohousing
> Southwest Colorado
> http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com
>
>
> "There never was a good war or a bad peace."
>        - Benjamin Franklin
> **********************************************************
>
>
>
> > On Oct 17, 2019, at 12:17 AM, S. Kashdan <s_kashdan [at] hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Greetings,
> >
> > This is Sylvie Kashdan, Jackson Place Cohousing, urban Seattle,
> Washington, built in 2001.
> >
> > I am writing to ask communities what their practices are around
> professional financial audits.
> >
> > Here at Jackson Place Cohousing,  our community does not meet the
> revenue threshold that would mandate an annual formal financial audit in
> our state.
> > Since we are below the level at which yearly audits are legally
> required, we have the option to forego audits.
> > We'd appreciate hearing how other similarly-situated cohousing
> communities approach this. Even though you aren't mandated, do you still
> conduct a formal audit annually or do you waive the annual audit some 
> years
> and conduct them other years? Do you have a set frequency, or are there
> specific events that "trigger" a formal financial audit?
> >
> > Every year our finance team discusses whether or not to have a
> professional audit, and then brings their recommendation to the whole 
> group
> to make the final decision for the year.
> >
> > So far we have had some professional audits, but not every year.
> >
> > We are wondering how other cohousing communities schedule professional
> audits.
> >
> > Cohousingly,
> > Sylvie
> >
> > Sylvie Kashdan
> > Community Outreach Liaison
> > Jackson Place Cohousing
> > 800 Hiawatha Place South
> > Seattle, WA 98144
> > www.seattlecohousing.org<http://www.seattlecohousing.org>
> > info [at] jacksonplacecohousing.org<mailto:info [at] 
> > jacksonplacecohousing.org>
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
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> >
> >
> >
>
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