"
Is there anything wrong with members preferring the system of disclosure the Lord used until ~1963?

The way I see it, if the Lord is influencing the Church's money management through revelation then that information would be the equivalent of financial scripture, and should be made known to the world alongside the counsel about storing food, keeping chaste, and how many earrings to wear.

If the Lord isn't influencing the management of Church funds and it is solely in the hands of wise, prudent but fallible leaders, then the same concerns would apply as to any other large corporation, and there should be a greater degree of disclosure.


Bonus question: How many times has the Church been "on the verge" of bankruptcy?
"
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/topic/48431-full-lds-church-financial-disclosure/page__view__findpost__p__1208818662

anybody have more info on these statements?:
1: "system of disclosure the Lord used until ~1963"?
2: "How many times has the Church been "on the verge" of bankruptcy?"

I'm pretty sure the church was bankrupt when all their property and tithing monies were seized by the government. Lorenzo Snow was a financial wizard and pulled them out of debt.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/mormon/mormon410.html
"The question of LDS finances has been a sensitive issue since at the least the mid-20th century.

"Until then, the church gave a detailed financial report every year at its semi-annual General Conference. It discontinued the practice, though, when it had to disclose that the church had outspent its income.

"In 1957, the LDS Church lost $1 million in tithing funds invested in government bonds, according to a 1996 essay by historian D. Michael Quinn. In 1959, the church outspent its income by $8 million.

""There was good reason for the church's annual financial report to give fewer details," Quinn wrote in Sunstone, an independent LDS magazine.

"By 1962 the church deficit was at $32 million and the church was struggling, Quinn said, "to avoid the worst financial crisis of its history.""

"In 1959, when the church last offered a financial accounting to the public, it reported expenses
of $72.8 million. JOHN HEINERMAN AND ANSON SHUPE, THE MORMON CORPORATE EMPIRE 81 (Beacon
Press) (1985). D. Michael Quinn argues that the church stopped releasing its financial records to
sidestep criticism over deficit spending. He writes: “By the end of 1959 the church spent more
than $8 million more than its income that year. This was extraordinary in view of the fact that the
church had surplus income of $7 million after 1958’s expenditures. To conceal the massive
increase of building expenditures in the last half of 1959 which created the deficit, the church
stopped releasing even abbreviated financial reports.” D. MICHAEL QUINN, THE MORMON HIERARCHY:
EXTENSIONS OF POWER 219 (Signature Books) (1997)."

and it had expenses of $73 million. Inflation would make that about 537 million according a random internet calculator.

There are less than 10 times that many reported members now (OK, way less).

So they should be spending 10x 537,000,000, or 5 billion max, probably a lot less.

Hmm, I actually thought that 5 billion number would be much smaller.

but STILL in financial trouble? it cant get more ironic (moronic) than that... =) lol =)