I have yet to hear of any church in my diocese or any other diocese to undergo an annual, certified and independent audit. Most non profits have to do it so why not the individual churches?
They do not have certified & independant audits on either the parish or diocesan levels. Cardinal "fast eddie" Egan was responsible for shooting down the concept of such audits for dioceses at the USSBC. Gee.....no big surprise: the worst bastard of a prince of the church want to keep on "living large" and totally unaccountable to his contribuitors!
At the parish level, you at least might have a shot at forcing such an audit - if the pastor permits it (hyterical laughter!). Each parish is supposed to have a Finance Committee with real "teeth" to control, regulate, and oversee parish spending and accounting. In the rare case where such has been implemented, they are ususally run by folks who are appointees of the pastor (or those who kiss his behind), and would not dare to "rock the boat" with sound and open accounting.
All those committees do is usually to "prepare a budget" Uh - huh. And exactly what good does that do, if you don't see the books, bank statements, or sign the checks?
We had a finance committee "once" until one of the members asked our pastor if his mother was able to pick up the phone and dial. The Parish phone bill was very high since the pastor would call his mom in FL almost daily, she would never call him, it's better for us to pay the bill.
After he was questioned, the finance committee seemed to go by the wayside.
The prelates living large is another disgrace entirely. They sure know how to spend other peoples money (usually in multiples of $100,000 or $1,000,000). So much for leading by example.