Internal Audit

From the founding of the Party in 1974 until mid-2019 the Party required all expenditures to be paid by cheque with two signatures. Typically the Treasurer would receive and invoice or Expense Statement and would prepare a cheque to pay it and a stamped envelope addressed to the payee. If he would be meeting one of the other two signatories within a day or two, he would have them sign it and then mail it to the Payee. Otherwise he would mail them to one of them.

In early 2018 the Executive Committee began discussing the idea of using Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to eliminate reimburse members who had incurred expenses on behalf of the Party without the mailing delays. This meant that only one person could authorize EFT transactions. The Treasurer at the time (Jim McIntosh) recommended the Party implement internal audit procedures to avoid the possibility of future Treasurers misusing Party Funds. New Treasurers were elected at the 2018 convention and again at the 2019 AGM, but neither ever actually took over responsibility from Jim. About mid 2019 Keith Komar volunteered and was appointed Treasurer. It was agreed to Implement the EFT procedures when he took over. At the time a second person (Matt Dougherty) was added to the account as a backup. However, no internal audit procedures were put in place and Keith subsequently took advantage of that. Jim McIntosh was appointed Treasurer and worked with the Party Auditor (Andrew Rodie of Chaplin & Co. Chartered Accountants) to prepare the 2020 AR-10 Annual Financial Statements.

Bank Accounts

The Party has a Business Chequing Account were all contributions and other income are deposited and expenses paid out. The Party also has an Investor Savings Account which earns interest. Excess funds not required for day to day operations is transferred from the chequing account to the savings and transferred back as required. Both accounts are with TD Canada Trust.

The Treasurer uses Quicken to record details about all financial transactions.

Withdrawals

The primary objective is to confirm that all withdrawals are for legitimate Party expenses. At the end of the month, the auditor can compare the Bank Statements from TD to Quicken printouts for the month for each account.

Deposits

The majority of deposits will be contributions received from our Credit Card Processor (currently Stripe, previously PayPal). PayPal provides monthly Account statements which incluudedetail listings of all transactions which can be used to confirm all transfers were recorded on the bank statements.

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

The Treasurer should also provide listings from TD for EFTs paid and received. These can be compared to the Bank Statements and Quicken.