CONNECT WITH US

Financial Information

- As promised during the 2020 Annual Conference session, the Council of Finance and Administration is providing reports on the Conference’s financial information for the various reserves on hand, the Statement of Assets – Modified Cash Basis, and the Statement of Activities – Modified Cash Basis, for the year ended 2020.

Please note: this financial information has not yet been audited and is not intended for public distribution.

Quarterly updates of the Statement of Assets – Modified Cash Basis and the Statement of Activities – Modified Cash Basis (Unaudited) will be posted on our website throughout the year.

If you have any questions, please email Sandy O’Brien.

Oversight and Spending Authority

The Louisiana Conference holds various reserves with a multitude of designations or restrictions.

Each ministry area within the Conference has within it boards, councils or missional groups that exercise financial responsibly over their designated and restricted reserve funds, and most ministry areas have longer term strategic objectives which earmark many of the designated reserves.

Thus, the reader of the Financial Reserves report should exercise due care when assessing which reserves are eligible for new or unplanned initiatives not currently contemplated by the various oversight boards, councils and ministry groups.

Any requests to use reserve funds must go through the appropriate levels of review and authority before permission can be granted to utilize the reserves.

What are Financial Reserves?

The financial reserves of the Conference are an accumulation of unused resources, both tangible and intangible, that are held by the organization for future use, subject to any internal (Conference) or external (Donor) restrictions.

Sources of Financial Reserves come from:

Prior years’ unused apportionment collections on many budget line items
Donations and gifts restricted or designated as to use
Interest and investment earnings on reserves, either unrestricted or restricted
Other miscellaneous receipts with no specific donor advisory or action of the Annual Conference

Two (2) types of financial reserves (as defined by the accounting standards in the context of CFA controlled funds):

Not Restricted by Donor
- These are unrestricted funds with no specific use designated or directed by CFA.
- Funds which are restricted or designated by 1) CFA action/designation, or, 2) Book of Discipline provisions, which is primarily funds generated though sale of real property and are required to be used for on similar or specific activities by either the Conference Board of Trustees or the Office of Congregational Development and Transformation.
Restricted by Donor
- Contemporaneous use of funds are allowed based upon donor designation and intent: the Conference collects gifts and donations that are restricted for the use on the mission or ministry for which they were received.
- Permanently Restricted – Donor stipulated - cannot use principal/corpus only the investment earnings, to the extent instructed by donor. Allows for distribution of earnings to specific recipients (have endowment-like characteristics).

Financial Reports Found Here