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SOT Formed Audit Committee
SOT has established an Audit Committee to oversee its financial and business practices. The Audit Committee arose from a recommendation of the Finance Committee as a means of complying with provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that deal with corporate governance. Although Sarbanes-Oxley does not explicitly require non-profit organizations to have this additional layer of oversight, many accounting firms are recommending to their non-profit clients that the law could be interpreted as extending to non-profits. Therefore, in the spirit of good governance, SOT has seated an Audit Committee.
The Committee has a number of responsibilities, including:
- Annual review of a committee charter, including committee objectives, steps to accomplish the objectives,
deliverables, and frequency to achieve the deliverables.
- Review all policies related to the financial processes and statements/reports of SOT that include, but are not
limited to, income, disbursement, and investments of funds. The committee may recommend changes to these processes based
on this review.
- Annually engage an independent audit firm, receive and review the audit report of SOT finances conducted by the
independent financial auditing firm.
- Audit accounting procedures and controls for risk management against policies used by SOT to record income and
disbursements.
- Audit the controls for maintaining financial data including computerized systems, systems for archiving financial
data, and routine back-up procedures for protecting the integrity of the data.
Although there is some overlap between the Audit Committee and the Finance Committee, most of the roles are distinct. The principal functions of the Finance Committee are to set financial policy, oversee how funds are collected and used, and advise Council on important financial decisions. The principal function of the Audit Committee is to make sure that the policies are followed.
The Audit Committee will consist of three members of the Society. The chair will be a past-Treasurer of SOT. At least one member of the committee will meet the criteria of being considered “Financial Expert.” At least one member should come from the general membership, a person who has management and/or financial and/or auditing experience. The charter members of the Audit Committee are Jim Bus (Chair), Jeff Charles, and George Daston. SOT President Kenneth S. Ramos is the Council Liaison and Shawn Lamb, SOT Executive Director, is the staff liaison.
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