Part 2 of our series on Cash Disbursements. In our recent Fraud Survey, we asked churches to respond to this statement:

“Our church uses pre-printed, pre-numbered purchase orders or check request forms to initiate purchases.”

Survey results – The positive response to this question was extremely low, causing me to believe that the question was poorly worded.  It should have included the use of electronic purchase orders generated by most church management software.

Not being able to rely on the survey results, however, does not keep me from sharing the main point.

KEY: A documented approval and bill payment process is a must!

Keep in mind one of our previous posts: Fraudsters Hate Baselines. A well documented bill paying system forms a part of the baseline.