The financial statements and the independent accountants’ review report of Deloitte & Touche LLP for Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2012, of the Archdiocese of Agana (AOA) are now disclosed in the official website www. aganaarch.org.
A group called Concerned Catholics of Guam placed an advertisement in the July 2 edition of a local newspaper, Pacific Daily News, challenging AOA’s Archbishop Anthony Apuron “to publish annually, beginning with the fiscal year completed on June 30, 2012, an independent auditor’s report”.
A March 2012 letter from the Vatican’s then-representative to the Pacific islands, Archbishop Charles Balvo, called on Apuron to submit the archdiocese’s financial statements to a Vatican office.
The office of the Evangelisation of Peoples had expected the archdiocese to submit a financial report in 2011 and in previous years.
The Guam group that called for the public disclosure of church finances brought its concerns to Pope Francis’ new Pacific islands representative, Archbishop Martin Krebs, who visited Guam in July.
The review report of Deloitte & Touche includes 26 Parishes, 9 Catholic Schools, and the Chancery Office under the Archdiocese of Agana.
Not included in the review report are the following organisations: Catholic Social Service, Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc., and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary of Guam.
The financials of these organisations will be disclosed separately in their particular websites.
Also disclosed in the website are the internally-prepared financial statements of the AOA for Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2013
The Archdiocesan website says, “AOA is continuously working to improve its fiscal management. “
“The AOA plans to hire an independent CPA firm to conduct annual financial reviews beginning with the fiscal year just ended June 30, 2014, and to have these financial reviews disclosed to the public as soon as they become available.”
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