resenting the various financial reports, GC Treasurer Robert Rawson noted that "markets have not been good to us over the past year, but over the last four years our experience has exceeded what would have been expected from the indexes."

GC Working Capital stands at 116.8 percent, up from 115.2 percent last year, while the percentage of liquid assets to commitments is up from 132.9 percent to 136.0 percent.

The General Conference operates under an expense cap, and under-treasurer Robert Lemon reported that in 2000 the GC was $5.2 million under that cap, with an expense of $22.9 million.

He also presented figures for the 2000 GC Session that showed that the total GC expense for the Toronto Session was $4.7 million, $467,000 under budget.

In a separate item, Rawson also explained in detail the developments regarding universally-applicable accounting software for the world church.

"Around 1995 we recognized that the system we had been using would need to be replaced, and at a GC treasurers’ meeting in 1997 voted to examine alternatives to the Sun Accounting 3.6 system. The results of a survey revealed that there were no products then on the market that would meet the special accounting needs of a rapidly-growing international church. A decision was made to develop accounting software in-house."

That decision led to the development of a project named Eclipse, and a business plan produced together with external programmers. Sadly, the project experienced many delays and cost overruns, and by 1999 it was clear that the project would not accomplish what was envisioned.

"Through 2000, Eclipse continued to be downsized, cost projections refined upward, and time lines further extended. By late 2000 costs were approaching $2 million."

The advisability of in-house developed software was questioned at Annual Council 2000 by one of the lay members, and commercial accounting packages were re-surveyed. As a result, "Sun System 5 was found after evaluation to have all the basic features and many additional powerful features desired by the church," adds Rawson.

Consequently, and after much evaluation and testing, the conclusion was to terminate the Eclipse development program, and negotiate purchase and use of Sun System 5 which was released in January 2001. "This system is expected to provide a universal accounting program with a life of 10-15 years," Rawson concludes. "However in order to purchase and provide this to users we will need to allocate an additional $1.8 million to add to the $2.2 million remaining funds" set aside for the project.

Speaking "from the heart," Rawson said that "it gives me great concern to be spending millions of dollars on anything. However the church's mission statement is an integral part of what we are doing in the treasury realm. We're committed to that, and it is essential to have these tools. We believe we will potentially save millions of dollars by going this route."

He also noted that auditors will have much of their field work saved through the adoption of this system, with significant savings once fully implemented.

South Pacific Division president Laurie Evans concurred: "This is a tremendous initiative, and the most important action we have ever taken regarding accounting software. It will revolutionize the way the church does its financial business, and I commend the competency and professionalism of the GC treasury."

Review of the retirement plans revealed a concern that the previous NAD plan (now frozen) would be compromised if the regional conferences continued not to participate in the new arrangements. Admitting that this had thrown a "monkey wrench" into the existing solution, NAD treasurer Juan Prestol said that the old plan may become non-functional by 2022 if current trends continue. However he also pledged that "we have made a commitment to make sure that this does not happen," and that negotiations were continuing. It was also noted that the new NAD defined contribution retirement plan had investment losses of $750,000 due to market downturn.

NAD president Don Schneider commented that the NAD retirement plan, which covers missionaries sent out by the GC from North America, was primarily supported by conferences in North America, and that they were due a vote of thanks for their sustained support. GC president Paulsen concurred and added his word of thanks to the conferences for their many contributions and financial support, not only to the retirement plan, but to the whole work of the world church.

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Jonathan Gallagher is the United Nations Liaison Director for the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department at the General Conference.