Clark Schaefer Hackett & Co. was again engaged to perform an annual financial audit for the United Church of God.

As has been our practice, the audited financial statements of the United Church of God, an International Association, are included in the first issue of United News following the December Council of Elders meetings.

In accordance with our bylaws, an external audit of our financial statements, and related assessment of risk, internal controls and other accounting policies and procedures is performed each year. The final report is presented to the Council of Elders at its December meeting; thereafter being made public in the Church’s newspaper.

As of the date of this writing we are just over five months into the Church’s current fiscal year and would like to share some highlights of our past and current fiscal year.

First, God continues to bless the Church financially for which we are thankful to Him and to the members, donors, coworkers and others who faithfully support His work. Income for the current fiscal year to date is a little above both our budgeted amounts and in comparison to the same period in the prior year.

As you review the audited financial statements, we would like to draw your attention to a few items of interest.

Unmodified opinion

On pages 1 and 2 of the audit report, the auditing firm states its opinion that the financial statements “present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of [the Church] as of June 30, 2023.”

Assets and liabilities

On page 3, the Statements of Financial Position (otherwise known as Balance Sheets) disclose our asset and liability balances at each of the fiscal year end periods shown. Note that God has blessed the Church with an increase of 12 percent in total net assets over the prior year. On page 15 (Note 8) of the audit report the balance in each restricted fund is noted. Donor restricted funds are used only for their respective designations and purposes.

Income and expense

The Statements of Activities (otherwise known as Income Statements) provide an overview of income and expenses by category for the fiscal year. The Church’s overall “income,” which primarily consists of tithes (listed as contributions in the statement) and Holy Day offerings, increased overall by a little over $0.8 million in fiscal year 2023.

Financial assistance

On the Statement of Functional Expenses (page 5) you will note that in fiscal year 2023, in recognition of its responsibility to financially assist members with long-term or short-term needs, the Church provided over $1.3 million in total financial assistance.

International subsidy

Recognizing our commitment to members outside the United States, the Church provides regular subsidies to international areas including congregations in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Southern and Southeast Asia, Mexico, South America and others. The total amount of international assistance in fiscal year 2023 exceeded $1.65 million, exclusive of the cost of printing, postage and shipping of foreign language magazines and booklets.

Expenses

While the Statements of Activities show overall expenses by both program services as well as management and general categories, there are further details on expenses provided in the Statement of Functional Expenses on pages 5 and 6 of the audit report.

God continues to provide what the Church needs to support the mission of preaching the gospel, making disciples and caring for them around the world. We would like to again express our gratitude to Him, and to the members, coworkers and donors who faithfully support His work. May we all continually seek God’s will and faithfully submit to it.

As always, if you have any questions about the finances of the Church or anything in the attached audited financial statements, please feel free to contact the Treasurer, Barry Korthuis.