Jeff, I appreciated your review of Generally Accepted
Accounting Practices (GAAP). Although I am now an educator, my first degree is in business. I worked for many years in the financial sector, primarily with real estate investments.
One of the things that always irked me when I was still in this cult was the fact that, although every congregation publicly reviewed their accounts report every single month, the organization never discloses any of its financial matters.
This lack of transparency was and remains disturbing to me. How can we know what they're doing with the funds we donated when they never reveal the details of their finances. There is no independent accounting. Frankly, none among the seven morons (apparently) running this religion appears to have the business acumen or financial background to be at the reins of such a large entity. And it is clear there's no "Jehovah" watching the books. - Hebrews 4:13
I have long suspected that there must be a cadre of legal and financial advisors actually running the ship, but if they are "true-believers," then they are doing so while acquiescing to the "leadership role" of the seven.
Can you imagine what it must be like for someone with actual business sense to try and give financial advice to Stephen Lett? What a nightmare that must be!
At any rate, I appreciate your attempts to shed light on what is deliberately a very dark place: the accounting and business practices of the cult known as Jehovah's Witnesses, aka The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and its numerous subsidiaries, divisions and shell corporations.
Oubliette