My name is Kelly Cooper, and I serve as the Finance Analyst for the Diocese. My main focus is to process accounts payable for the Diocese. I am the contact for all payables and reimbursements to individuals from the Diocese.
Processing expense reimbursements
While much of my accounts payable work is devoted to processing routine diocesan transactions, there are times when an individual or parish will incur an expense which the diocese must reimburse. In those instances—which must be approved in advance—the individual or designated parish leader is required to submit any pertinent receipts and documentation to their appropriate contact on diocesan staff. The staff member will then forward the documentation to me for prompt handling.
IRS Reporter for 1099s
I am the reporter for the Diocese to the IRS for all nonemployee compensation (aka “1099s”). Any nonemployee compensation over $600 each calendar year will be reported and 1099s will be issued by January 31st of the following calendar year for the individual’s personal tax records.
Parish Annual Pledge Recording
I also process accounts receivable for the Diocese. One of the major components of this is recording each parish’s annual pledge to the Diocese and keeping up to date records for the parish so that a statement can be issued at the beginning of every month. If you have any questions regarding pledges, payments, or any other statement irregularities, please feel free to contact me.
Archiving Parish Audits
Another important part of my work is to review and archive parish audits submitted to the Diocese. As a reminder, every parish is canonically required to have their financial statements audited annually and to submit the completed audit to the diocese by September 1 of the following year. The guidelines for completing audits can be found online in the Manual of Business Methods in Church Affairs. Once an audit has been completed, it should be submitted to the Rev. Canon Andrew Walter. Canon Walter and I review the audits as they are submitted, and then, I archive them.
