Valid points wherever personal or public finances are involved

 We belong to the CSI. The Church of South India. 

The Church we attend has a large membership.

The authorities of the Church recently came up with 

several projects that called for substantial investments.

While we  have nothing against the authorities and the projects

they have presented for approval

we called for a few clarifications.

We wrote to them:

(Placing it here because these are valid points wherever personal or public finances are involved)

Go for simple answers.

1. How do you manage your own finances?

2. Especially on the home front.

3. Do you buy a Rolls Royce when your savings is low or is  non existent?

4. They say ' A bird in hand is worth two in the bush'

5. Do you plan for the two in the bush?

6. Then you are nowhere. 

7. You are bound to fail.

8. Here, grandiose schemes are envisaged.

9. You embark on your fancy ideas without funds in the kitty

10. 'God will provide' is what you make out.

11. Here the members have to shell out

12. What happens if they don't?

13. You end up the loser.

14. Do you go for a due diligence, before you begin?

15. Do you conduct a SWOT analysis?

16. When you go for a high investment project do you evaluate the ROI - return on investment plus the time span?

17. And cost escalation?

18. How do you project the probable income.?

19. Is it on 100% or 50% occupancy?

20. Are you aware 50% occupancy is the norm?

21. Do you introspect and assess if the project is absolutely essential?

22. Is your procurement on commission basis?

23. Who are the beneficiaries?

24. How can you pay more than Rs.10000 in cash to a single person on a single day?

25. Are you making payment through Account payee cheques? 

26. If not, if you cross the threshold of 20 lakhs are you aware, you are bound to pay cash transaction charges?

27. Why do you keep very large balances in SB accounts?

28. Can't you reduce  it to  1lakh and transfer the rest to term deposits in multiples of 1 lakh each? Do you know you can go for premature closure when in need?

29. In a church like ours we can happily put a total of  1lakh per month in three or four recurring deposits for a period of one year  through SI - standing instruction. Do we do that in order to enable us  -  at the end of the period of one year - have access to 12lakhs  that could fulfil our divergent needs?

30. Why can't we emulate the St Thomas Educational Society who have built everything from scratch?

31. While the mission of CSI is mission do we indulge in that mission  for the members of  our own congregation?

32. If we go on with the notion we would spend when we have money in our kitty, do we ever perceive it may dry up?

33. Have you ever thought building rooms for renting out  - if perceived  - is a crazy idea as the implications are manifold?

34. Money is scarce. When the tussle is between lower and higher outgo what will you do if it is your own finances?

35. Why do we have large advances?

36. Are you aware no one has  the power to dole out such advances at will and if you do that elsewhere you face prospects of summary dismissal and possible terms in the prison if there is violation of any kind?

37. Do you know misutilization of public funds is a crime?

38. When the policies of the banks render chargeable,  more than three remittances into the SB ac in a month, what prevents us from opening one or two more SB acs to offset such charges?

39. How can we hide behind the term GRACE when we err?

40. Why did we bring back the current CA? What was wrong with the previous CA?

41. Once we received an interesting answer from a former Treasurer for the large balances in SB ac and the large cash balance held by the Treasurer throughout the year. He said the Church had various construction projects where cash had to be disbursed. I didn't ask, but were all the projects approved at the appropriate level ? 

42. Is it happening here - When someone approaches somebody  in the Church for a personal loan from that person,  is that request placed before the Church knowing very well it would have to be  written off if it is given out from own sources?

43. Do we make sure our grants and financial assistances on applications received are properly deployed?

44. Finally, the Church is nothing but  its own constituents. The Church belongs to God. It should not be run or managed on the whims and fancies of a few. Do we deviate?