@erin I find it odd the community league does large expenses this way. When I was on a non-profit executive big purchases where done by PO and paid from the organization's bank account signed off by two executives.

I also find it odd that the community league has launched a lawsuit before conducting a forensic audit. I would think you'd want pretty conclusive evidence before making public claims like this.

Aside: the treasurer in the org I was in was a forensic auditor so things were tight.

@Chigaze

I also wonder about the charity perceiving this as having lost money. One would assume they can see the actual inflow and outflow of their bank account and not just rely on the list of transactions in Xero.

@erin

@alessandro @erin Clarification: Community Leagues are non-profit organizations rather than charities.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/charities-giving/about-registered-charities/what-difference-between-a-registered-charity-a-non-profit-organization.html

@Chigaze

Good to know - I've never heard of "community leagues" until this. In any case, if they saw this shortfall in Xero, wouldn't their first instict be to check their actual bank statements? I switched to Xero myself this year and had similar problems with duplicate entries, so I used my bank statements as the canonical record of transactions. One would assume they spotted a $280k gap between revenues and expenditures there too. Relying only on Xero would be idiotic.

@erin

@alessandro @Chigaze @erin If Chad was paying expenses on his personal credit cards, and then reimbursing himself with bank transfers from the league accounts, then the bank statements would indeed look like he was taking money for himself. The missing invoices, that explain the payments, are the big issue.

However, there's still the actual goods & services paid for. Given the amounts involved, I'm assuming a lot was related to major repairs on the league hall, which Chad had talked about previously. So the rest of the league must know that the entire amount wasn't "stolen", as it has been implied based on their court filing.

But without clear documentation, there is always the possibility that numbers were fudged & expenses inflated. All of which can hopefully be cleared up with original receipts & transaction records.

I suspect, based on observations of conflicts in the mstdn.ca team, that the confusion spun out of control & into courts because of other interpersonal issues & communication breakdowns.

@AmeliasBrain @alessandro @Chigaze @erin I agree with you Amelia. If what he says is the truth and he did explain it to the board.. either they didn't find him trustworthy enough to believe, or they decided to sue him anyways?

Software glitches are something you can fix out of court with good communications and collaboration