House Corp Embezzlement Suspicion
 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to approach the issue of a House Corporation Board Member embezzling funds? Board members are strictly volunteers.

Reason for suspicion: Our new house mother was looking at records and exclaimed, "Oh, I didn't know your House Corp was paid!"

Does anyone have any experience with this? Should we drop an anonymous hint to Internationals?

I'm shocked! It's in the records??? That's not very smart . . . I don't have any experience with anything like this, but it seems to me a call to Headquarters would be a good place to start.

I certainly would contact your HQ, but I am not a fan of the "anonymous" call or letter. You must be able to identify yourself or the report will lack credibility.

House Corp books should be audited on a regular basis just as chapter books are. They are required to file with the IRS as well.

It is reasonable to expect that some expenses that even volunteer house corp board members incurr would be reimburseable. That could be at least one part of the confusion.

Examine everything before jumping to conclusions based on a single comment. Contact your national House Corp director for further advice.

Agreed. Are you sure that the house mother knew exactly what she was looking at? It seems plausible to me that a reimbursement to a House Corp member could have gotten coded slightly wrong to make it appear that it's a payment.

the suspicion is based on more than just one statement by the house mother. there have been some other "clues" that are just too complicated to write on here. Our house corp has been problematic for a number of years based on what our old house mom has said in the past. They neglect to have meetings every month, do not cash checks regularly, and interact with exec and officers without respect and/or tact.

I would never make any unwarranted accusations. These women I'm talking about are my sisters, which is what makes this situation so difficult. We also need to lookout for the future of our chapter though. If this lack of money causes us not to be able to keep up with other houses on campus (house improvements, quality of food), then something must be done.

Make sure your facts are correct. If they are, then prosicute!

This is BS!:mad:

I think a great way to start (and this is whether or not there's any embezzlement or shady business going on) would be to contact your district/regional/national finance or facility corporation officer. Tell her you have concerns (without pointing fingers, initially) and would like to get more information about how the house corp does/should operate. Ideally, your chapter's facility manager/officer (undergraduate) should make this contact.

Since you (the chapter) seem in the dark about the house corp dealings, coming at it from a "we want to get informed and be involved" perspective would be an appropriate start. I would wager that at least 1-2 undergraduate chapter officers are supposed to be included in corp. meetings.

good luck!

I don't know which GLO you are in so all I can say is that whatever officer of the chapter is a member of your HC board (in DG it's the president, vp:finance and director of house management) should contact your province/district/regional housing officer with a list of the things that have been noticed. They shuld then investigate.

It's possible that your GLO may prefer that HCB officers are not paid, but the HCB bylaws may allow certain officers to be compensated. For example, if the HCB Treasurer handles billing and collections, the HCB might pay the treasurer a stipend. Before you jump to conclusions, contact your go to person at the International level.

Sometimes there's an understandably cantankerous (sp?) relationship between HCBs and the House mom and it wouldn't be right to assume anything without getting all the facts first.

*deja vu all over again*

This DID happen to my chapter. The Housing Corporation Treasurer squandered the HC money for three years prior to her getting caught. My roomie (the President) & I (VP) were talking and realized it had been ages since there had been a formal HC meeting. We contacted our Alumnae Association (she was Treasurer there, too) President, who in turn contacted the person involved. The AA President wasn't happy with her answers, so she contacted our Executive Office.

Without saying much more, there was an audit, we had NO monies left in our account, and the person involved is no longer a sister of Alpha Delta Pi!

I can't urge you enough to MOVE QUICKLY!!!! IF THERE IS ANY DOUBT, GET THE ACCOUNT CLOSED, BEFORE THEY ARE CLOSED BEFORE YOU GET A CHANCE TO AUDIT THE ACCOUNT!!!!!!!