Dunamis Christian Centre is a not-for-profit organisation with a passion for supporting the community. When MGI first met the team at Dunamis two years ago, they were a growing group of churches with five successful not-for-profit organisations and were looking to expand their premises. However, they also faced a significant problem.
Despite operating under a strong sense of accountability and transparency, past accounting practices had led to problems with the financial reports provided to the Board of Management.
Knowing members would rely on the credibility of this information, the organisation was keen to identify and correct any outstanding issues. Together with a new outsourced accounts manager, MGI helped rectify the situation and worked with the Board of Management to improve its governance and future processes.
Help to correct previous financial reports
Accounts manager Melissa O’Brien said MGI was especially thorough in its approach and it didn’t take long for a number of inaccuracies to come to light that had not been identified in previous audits.
“We found assets that were no longer in existence and loans that shouldn’t have been on the balance sheet,” she said.
MGI worked with the new management to correct the financial statements and improve the detail of reporting for both the Board of Management and its members.
Melissa O’Brien | Dunamis Christian Centre
Improved financial reporting to the board
MGI worked very closely with board members to help them understand what processes needed to be changed and what information they should request.
They also worked with the board to improve their governance and implement tighter financial controls.
More meaningful financial information for members
Another major initiative was to make the balance sheet and accounts more meaningful.
“The management team saw it as very important that they were able to provide reliable and accurate information to their members on an ongoing basis,” Melissa said.
Identified internal improvements and efficiencies
The following year, Dunamis again engaged MGI to undertake their 2015/2016 audit. The focus for the second audit was on identifying efficiencies to make it easier for the financial team. These included:
- Minimising leave liability with MGI assisting the team to find ways to achieve this
- Simplifying the bookkeeping process which previously had more than 10 MYOB files for the four business entities.
Despite significant challenges over the past few years, with MGI’s help, Dunamis has been able to restructure their financial management processes, resulting in greater confidence in expansion plans.
Recommending MGI
Melissa says she would definitely recommend MGI to any not-for-profit organisation.
“They are easy to deal with yet thorough. They have been very understanding of the challenges of working in a not-for-profit organisation and, in my case, part-time.
“In the past, I have worked with people who have made the audit process seem like a very stressful time of year—but working with MGI, that didn’t happen.”