Yuk!

My workday today consisted of hours of one of my least favorite duties... filing! Not only do I hate the usual current filing, but I also hate personnel filing, and payroll filing, memos from the insurance office filing, memos from other Diocesan offices filing, and boxing up old filing. I just hate filing. I am behind in my filing. I hate that even more.

Yes, I am that far behind in filing. For a while I was out of cabinet space and had to let things sit in boxes until I could get old files into storage. Did I mention that I hate filing? But there was nothing else that I could do today. I had to file. I cleaned out several drawers in one of my filing cabinets, boxed those files, and then started to organize the files that would fill up the drawers next.

So, I am now more organized in my unfiled files. I have several neat stacks of things to file. I have one box of payroll filing all ready to pop into the appropriate drawer. I have one box that is all old files that were pulled for various reasons and not refiled when they were returned to me... they were just put on the pile of "old files to be refiled" or the "miscellaneous filing" pile. And then there is the box of filing that contains files that I still have to figure out where they should be filed... you know, like memos from the Diocesan insurance office that are corrections to or addendums to other memos... or memos about a subject that another office at the diocese has sent a previous and contradicting memo for, and I am still not sure which memo I am supposed to follow. Sometimes I get requests for the same thing from two different offices at the Diocese that ask for the same information but in different forms... and I have to keep the original memos and copies of my responses. I got smart and started a file called "Diocesan Correspondence" and just throw everything in there. Besides, next week there will be another request for the same information in a different form that supecedes all previous requests.

I was happy that my favorite accountant from the Finance Office ("second in command") told me that I could actually pitch some of the things that I had saved... the check registers... as long as I hold them for a year and print up an all inclusive copy of the general ledger at the end of each fiscal year. Previously, I had thought I had to keep them for 7 years. After the next audit I will be cleaning out all of the old bound registers to make room for more current filing. Yay.

Every year we are supposed to do a "Job and Ministry Assessment" for the fiscal year end. Every year under the question regarding my goals for the upcoming year, I list as one of my top goals to keep my filing current. I have actually done better this year than last year. Most of my 2005 fining is actually up to date. The biggest problem stems from 2004. 2004 was not a very good year for me. I don't know what happened. Something went askew... actually a lot of somethings went askew. So I am now paying the price for my own dereliction of duty. I am a good person. I am a fun person. I am a smart person. I am good at my job. Well, I am good at everything about my job but filing.

This brings me to the other reason I need to get my filing up to date. I will have to go through another audit sometime soon! It does not matter that I had one this past year. Whenever pastors change, it is mandatory that there is another audit. I know it is coming... soon... but not when. I hate having something hanging over my head like this. I am waiting for the kaboom letter that will tell me what I have to get ready for the audit this time... it will be different than the last one... and probably a different auditing company. It would be nice if it was the same one... then I would be able to just review that changes I made after the previous audit and go from there. With another firm, I will have to go through the whole "procedures" review again... like how many people count the money, and who signs off on what, and how is it transported from one place to another, and are the procedures in writing, and are there always at least two people present, and does the pastor open all the bank statements first, and who are the officers for the groups that have auxiliary accounts and do they make sure there are two signatures on each of their checks, and where are my audits of those accounts, and does someone other than the person writing the checks put the checks into the envelopes for mailing (nope), and do I keep copies of the budget (duh), and do I keep copies of our financial statements that I send to the Diocese, and do I keep copies of the minutes of the financial committee meetings that I should also be sending to the head of the Deanery, and do I balance the bank statements and have the pastor (actually the parish manager does it) review these and sign off on them (another duh), and do I make my payroll tax deposits on time (like I would like an audit by the IRS?) and... and... and...

You know how in high schools they give students aptitude and interest tests? Well, when I was in high school, clerical, bookkeeping, and accounting careers were at the bottom of the lists on my tests... right before a career in being a Highway Patrol Officer. I always did well at math, but the clerical stuff has never been my cup of tea. It's a good thing that I love where I work!

Did I mention anything about the fact that I hate filing?