An organization that makes a systematic audit of financial records of all organizations in the Seventh-day Adventist body from the local church to the General Conference.
From the time the General Conference was organized in 1863, provision was made by the General Conference Executive Committee for the appointment of an auditing committee annually to audit the books of account. As the General Conference grew and its constituent organizations and institutions multiplied, the annual appointment of a committee was superseded by the election of an auditor of the General Conference and associates as required by the increasing volume of work.
Each overseas division committee followed the pattern by electing a division auditor and by appointing auditors for the union missions. In North America each union conference elected an auditor and such associates as were necessary. Auditors on the union level were responsible for financial audits of local conferences/missions in their respective territories and of union institutions—publishing, educational, and health care.
The responsibility for audits of local churches, church schools, and other entities under the direction of the local conference has throughout the period rested with the local conference executive committee, which elects or appoints the local conference auditor.
The General Conference auditor and staff audited the records of the General Conference and its legal corporations, as well as those of all divisions and General Conference institutions. In all cases, annual reports were submitted by the auditor to the organization’s executive committee and, as scheduled meetings of constituencies took place, to the assembled constituency. In the case of the General Conference, this meant an annual report to the full General Conference Committee and a report by the General Conference auditor to the General Conference session on a four-year and later a five-year basis.
As membership in all divisions grew, and as the financial activity of the various organizations became more significant and more diversified, it was seen that, from considerations of objectivity and independence, it was wise to distance the auditing function on all levels from the controlling committees at those levels. Thus in 1976 the General Conference Committee in the Annual Council authorized the establishment of a unitary Auditing Service as a part of the General Conference structure. The Auditing Service was organized with a director and associate directors, and the North American Division territory was set up in three areas, each with several district offices corresponding, in most cases, to the territories of the union conferences. The same pattern was expected to be followed in other divisions, and this reorganization has been going forward since 1977.
Under the new plan the responsibility for all audits, down to the local conference level, rests directly with professionally qualified individuals elected or appointed by the General Conference and under the day-to-day guidance of the director of the General Conference Auditing Service. This step has led to the application of uniform standards of reporting and disclosure for all organizations, and to the development of higher standards of training and proficiency in all members of the worldwide auditing staff. It has made it possible to raise the standards of auditing around the world to more nearly meet those of the business community in developed countries.
At the time of the establishment of the Auditing Service in 1976, a policy was also enunciated that placed the responsibility for auditing the General Conference itself, and its related legal organizations, on a firm of independent Seventh-day Adventist certified public accountants selected by the General Conference Executive Committee.
Under the unitary plan, all audits of all denominational organizations, from the local conference level through to the General Conference itself, are performed by professional auditors independent of their employing organizations. Audits of local churches and entities operated by local churches remain under the aegis of the local conference constituency, which names the local conference auditor with counsel from the director of the General Conference Auditing Service.
Auditors: J. J. Ireland, 1914–1932; Claude Conard, 1932–1942; W. E. Phillips, 1942–1955; H. W. Barrows, 1956–1958; E. L. Becker, 1958–1964; R. J. Radcliffe, 1964–1968; R. M. Reinhard (acting), 1968–1970; R. M. Davidson, 1970–1976; David D. Dennis, 1976– .