Nicholas has put it very well. As an auditor of more than 25 years
experience (including the auditor for two museums)  and also as a certified
fraud examiner for the last fifteen of those, what he says makes a great
deal of sense and the situation you describe would make MY pointy little
ears tingle, too. It is my experience with KPMG that their auditors do not
make recommendations for nothing and they have a great deal of experience in
forensic auditing on which to base their recommendations. Like Nicholas, I
am not saying that you are doing anything that is evil, but you desxcribe a
situation which makes your institution prone to abuse, possibly fraud, at
the hands of an unscrupulous staff member.

Without knowing all the facts, it sounds to me as if:

a. your institution either has no policy on purchases; or that it is very
deficient in several essential respects, or that it is systematically
avoided because it does not work well.

b. your treasury policies and procedures are highly inflexible (payments
once a month? Really?).

The problems do not appear to be personal, but rather systemic.

Harry
--
Harry Needham, Principal ([log in to unmask])
Harry Needham Consulting Services Inc.
Solutions for Heritage Institutions - and Others!
74 Abbeyhill Drive
Kanata ON K2L 1H1 Canada
(Voice) +1.613.831-1068
(Fax) +1.613.831-9412

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