Financial Reports and Financial Review, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana, July 30, 2014

Financial Reports and Financial Review

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana
July 30, 2014

http://www.aganaarch.org/7739/financial-reports-and-financial-review/

The Archdiocese of Agana has been working diligently to review its financial condition with the help of the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche and the Archdiocesan Finance Officer, following the indication of Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Together with the Archdiocesan Finance Council, I decided that on an annual basis the Archdiocese of Agana, Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc. and the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary of Guam will publish the financial reports and financial review.

I am pleased to tell you that through this review we have verified that the overall financial situation of the Archdiocese is healthy and that the debt of the Archdiocese in the past years has been reduced by twenty percent (20%).

However, two (2) entities of the Archdiocese, the Agana Cathedral-Basilica and Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc. have about seven million dollars of indebtedness which has been reduced only marginally and which accounts for about one quarter of the total indebtedness of the Archdiocese of Agana.

Moreover, Deloitte & Touche has determined that the accounting practices, especially of the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc., are “inappropriate”. Deloitte and Touche, listing the cases of inappropriate accounting, concluded that an audit is not possible until appropriate accounting has been reestablished in The Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc.

I informed the Presbyteral Council, the College of Consultors and the Archdiocesan Finance Council about this situation, and they expressed their support.

Based on these findings, I have decided that a change in administration in these two entities, the Agana Cathedral-Basilica and The Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc., is necessary and urgent to reestablish proper accounting practices and to complete the financial review, financial report and the audit.