For an audit of the church accounts, does the church have to perform an audit in the same month as the annual meeting or can an audit be done at any time?
Audits in the Methodist Church are dictated by the Conference "Big" church if you will at the end of the calendar year.
Being done before the Annual Meeting would be convenient for discussion. However, Church governance could set the policy on timing along with the Finance Committee. Emergency audits could be held any time the need necessitates--what if the treasurer (or other leaders( suspected someone of skimming funds because of evidence pointing to that?