Greetings, Honorary Treasurer & Co-Chairs of the Corporate Finance & Audit Committee

GREETINGS Bishop Bernard Morris FMAAT ACMA CGMA MSc

Honorary Treasurer & Co-Chair, Corporate Finance and Audit Committee &

Audrey Taylor FCCA

Company Secretary & Co-Chair, Corporate Finance and Audit Committee

Welcome to the third Corporate Governance Conference of the Church of God of Prophecy Trust (U.K.) in this digital format. Although, we have held these conferences for many years. Firstly, as the Treasurer’s Conference, then as the Finance and Governance Conference. The covid-19 lock down of March 2020 has shown us that we can achieve our goals using different methods.

It is our pleasure to share this programme with you over these two days and trust it will prove helpful to you in your role as pastor, minister, treasurer, clerk (administrator), health & safety and safeguarding leads.

This year, you will notice, we have changed the name of the conference to the Corporate Governance Conference. This reflects the changing nature of the subject matter we will be covering. We have three focus areas this year, namely Human Resources, Finance, and Corporate Operations.

This diagram illustrates the ‘corporate governance cycle’, which we aim to cover in this, and future conferences.

So, what is charity governance? To answer this question, I quote from an excellent briefing paper produced by the Christian Charity, Stewardship, entitled, “Charity structure and governance: An overview”, written by Stephen Mathews and Alan Hough, August 2020

“In its simplest form, governance is about authority, decision making and accountability.

Within a charitable organisation, the term governance encompasses:

• Who within the organisation has authority for administering the charity; • Who makes the decisions; and • How the organisation is kept accountable.

We see good governance taught in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 8:21NIV “For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.” and in Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17, we are urged to be subject to the governing authorities.

Good governance is about helping a church or charity promote an attitude and culture where everything works towards fulfilling the charity’s vision as well as ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and regulation and operation in line with ‘best practice’. Good governance sets a tone for an organisation.

Seen in this light, governance is more than a “box ticking” compliance exercise. Governance can be dynamic, exciting, and visionary.

“Good governance is about helping a church or charity promote an attitude and culture where everything works towards fulfilling the charity’s vision.”