Financials

High Standards of Professionalism

United Way for Southeastern Michigan maintains the highest standards of professionalism, accountability and transparency in our stewardship of contributor dollars and financial management. Internal control procedures include a rigid system of checks and balances that prevents the same individuals from handling transactions in isolation and deters questionable activities.

As a matter of practice, United Way segregates responsibilities to limit employee involvement to specific functions within the process that are interdependent so that any irregularities that could occur are quickly discovered. The accounting staff are assigned individual duties to safeguard against possible wrongdoing. No one staff member is able to process any transaction from start to finish.

Our finance committee (made up of volunteers who are high-level financial professionals) oversees accounting and financial procedures, and regularly monitors the finances of the organization. An independent accounting firm audits United Way’s books annually. A separate audit committee (composed of volunteers including partners from several CPA firms) and board of directors must review and approve the annual audits.

United Way is committed to maintaining the most effective financial control practices available to ensure that any type of financial impropriety is prevented or quickly identified and appropriately addressed.