Church brings in stricter controls after #240,000 theft
Tighter controls have been introduced at the Diocese of London after a church accountant stole #240,000 to fund his lavish lifestyle.
Unqualified Dean Bailey, 34, plundered the money from a string of small diocesan trusts over a six-year period using it to buy opera and cricket tickets, and make charitable donations.
He was jailed for three years on Friday at Southwark Crown Court after admitting a dozen specimen counts of theft worth #50,000. Bailey, who was training for a Chartered Institute of Secretaries qualification, asked for a further 56 offences, worth over #188,378, to be taken into consideration.
His spree came to light after Chris Smith was made diocesan secretary in 1994. Smith, a former Price Waterhouse partner, was appointed to tighten up the diocese’s ‘loose’ accounting methods.
Smith told Accountancy Age about the ‘mess’ he found and how he tackled it. ‘Internally, I don’t think people really understood what debits and credits were. There is a lot of cash flowing through here and Bailey took advantage of that.’
Smith added: ‘We now have a formal audit committee reporting to the main diocesan board and there is enhanced professionalism in the finance committee.
I hope this leads to a more effective means of monitoring diocesan financial affairs.’
