# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1929_S167
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. 1929. 167

the trustees of the Lutheran Laymen’s League Endowment Fund are
yesting the Synod to change its rules regarding the character of
their jnvestments and that they propose to place the fund in the
care of & responsible trust company, the management of the fund to
test with a committee consisting of some of the trustees and of rep-
resentatives of the trust company. We suggest that Synod authorize
and instruct its Board of Directors to make a similar arrangement
regarding all other trust funds of, Synod, the Board of Directors to
appoint the trustees, select the trust company, and approve the trust
agreement. Synod’s rules regarding the character of investments for
the L. L. L. Endowment Fund should also govern all other trust funds
of Synod.
9. It is a matter of common knowledge that Synod owns real
and personal property valued at many millions of dollars. Its real
estate consists of many individual tracts, with improvements thereon,
located in many parts of the world. Yet there is no centralized
place where the deeds to these properties may be found, nor are these
holdings properly inventoried or placed upon the books of Synod.
An inventory of all Synod’s properties ought to be made, and the
value of such inventoried holdings ought to be placed on the books
of Synod. The deeds and other supporting documents ought to be
on file in the office of Synod and a definite responsibility attached
to their safe-keeping. Hence we suggest the adoption of the fol-
lowing resolution : —
Resolved, That we authorize and instruct our Board of Directors,
and it is hereby authorized and instructed, to make, or cause to be
made, an inventory of Synod’s real estate; such inventory to show
the location, legal description, and the value placed on the land and
the improvements thereon, and to contain such other facts relating
to Synod’s properties as the Board of Directors may require.
10. To execute the foregoing resolution, Synod would find it
necessary to employ the services of a competent person for an in-
definite period. That consideration gives us the courage to approach
| our next point. The audits now made by the many audit committees
appointed by your President are good as far as they go, but, of neces-
sity, they cannot be made as circumspectly and intelligently as they
could be made by some one whose business it would be to keep posted
on all of Synod’s rules and regulations and the resolutions of Synod’s
Board of Directors. We have in mind a synodical auditor, who would
devote his entire time to the fiscal business of Synod in all its
. branches. He could audit every department of Synod, and such
audits would be properly coordinated. Thus the cost of professional
audits would be reduced to a minimum. He could be employed in
systematizing the accounting of our colleges and missions, bringing
about more uniform practise and making the accounting more effi-