Finance Committee

The Finance Committee is appointed by Representative Meeting and shall annually estimate the amounts of grants made by the Yearly Meeting to meet the financial obligations of Yearly Meeting to the various branches of the work of Yearly Meeting and towards the work of Friends General Conference, Friends United Meeting, Friends World Committee for Consultation, and towards interdenominational and other activities. These amounts will be approved by the Yearly Meeting general session. The Financial Committee shall recommend the amount of money required for the use of Yearly Meeting, and shall allocate it by quota among the constituent Meetings.

Auditors will be appointed annually by Representative Meeting, to whom will be submitted the books of account as required.

Guidelines for Monthly Meeting Treasurers (and Friends tasked with keeping
financial records for their Monthly Meeting or Worship Group) (PDF file)

There are some things that Friends who look after the finances of their Meeting or Worship Group must do in order to preserve the charitable status and comply with the requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency to keep sound financial records of the activities of their Meetings. In doing this it should be remembered that the Monthly Meeting is ultimately responsible for its finances and for preserving its charitable status through oversight of the Treasurer’s work – with or without the assistance of a Monthly Meeting Finance Committee.

We have divided these guidelines into sections. The first section is comprised of things that must be done in order to comply with CRA requirements and/or generally accepted accounting principles. These are the Required Financial Procedures. The second section contains those things that you should be doing in order to produce open and transparent information. These are the Recommended Financial Procedures. The last section is a listing of those things that are not required but which would be a good idea to do. These are the Optional Financial Procedures.

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