HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2004-10-06, Page 2222
Exeter Times -Advocate
Wednesday, October 6, 2004
Hoppy the clown gets a little help from Jackson Bieman during his show at the
Grand Bend Youth Centre's Fun Fair Saturday afternoon. (photo/Mary Simmons)
School boards given a year's grace
By Stew Slater
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -ADVOCATE
DUBLIN — School boards in Ontario
have been given a year's grace in the
movement to have the finances of all
government -related bodies adminis-
tered in a standardized fashion.
But by next year, every penny taken in
at the school level for class trips, or
every dime paid out to buy supplies for
school-based special events will have to
be accounted for somewhere in each
board's financial database.
That's because the Canadian Institute
of Chartered Accountants has informed
the Ontario Ministry of Education that
its members will no longer provide
"clean" audits for school boards which
don't comply with standards set out by
something called the Public Sector
Accounting Board (PSAB). According to
a background paper provided to mem-
bers of the Huron -Perth Catholic
District School Board, PSAB is a com-
mittee of CICA which "sets the financial
reporting standards and generally
accepted accounting principals for gov-
ernments" audited by CICA members.
At the Sept. 27 Huron -Perth board
meeting, senior administrator Dennis
Mackie updated trustees on the phase-
in of PSAB recommendations for
Ontario's school boards.
He noted an agreement was struck to
give boards an extra year to adapt to
the strengthened requirements, largely
because a great proportion of school -
raised funds tended to stay and get
spent within each school without ever
getting reported to outside officials.
"The biggest problem is going to be
funds raised in the schools at things like
pizza days, or for school trips. Most of
that stuff is handled in cash," Mackie
explained. "That's going to be the issue
— all the little bits of money that come
He reassured trustees that such prac-
tices would still be allowed to happen,
but admitted significant changes in
record-keeping would likely be
required.
The first step will be assessing what
record-keeping methods or computer
banking software are currently in use,
then attempting to standardize systems
among the schools.
"It's quite often the principals who are
in control of a lot of these funds, and
they're going to be the people I'm going
to have to talk to," said Mackie, who
has been charged with ensuring the
Huron -Perth board is ready for PSAB
compliance.
"My approach is going to be that it's
for (the principal's) protection, as much
as for anything else."
Precious Blood Terry Fox run
Dianne Dearing, Sir Louie Masse (king of the squash patch) and Mouse Masse
show off some of the results of their labours at the Masse Sweet Corn and
Pumpkin Patch just outside of Zurich. Mouse said this week is when it really gets
busy when everyone starts to decorate.(photo/PatBolen)
Counterfeit bills circulate in Huron County
HURON — Huron OPP visual check to determine also difficult to reproduce.
has investigated the report
of 62 counterfeit bills so
far this year.
The $20 bill makes up
37 of the report bills with
the $10 bill the next high-
est at 17. These two bills
represent 54 of the total
62 turned in to officers.
The hot spot for counter-
feit currency has been
Central Huron with 28,
while Bluewater was sec-
ond with 11, then Huron
East and South Huron
were tied with a reported
eight bills each, Goderich
came in next with three
and Morris-Turnberry
was the last spot with one.
Howick, North Huron,
ACW had no reports of
counterfeit bills reported
to the OPP.
In all of these cases the
counterfeit bill was of the
older denomination not
the new bills that the Bank
of Canada has been
releasing like the new
$100 or $20 bill. The
newer bill has made it
easier for business
employees to do the quick
Students and staff of Precious Blood school were at the Morrison Dam Oct. 1 to raise money for the Terry
Fox Run.The school raised $373.50 for the cause with Murphy Bus Lines donating part of the bussing and
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority donating the trails. (photo/PatBolen)
if genuine. Security on the
Birds of Canada Bank
Note features several
areas to check.
The first feature would
be the Optical Security
Device in the upper left
corner on the front of the
note. This metallic patch
will shift in colour from a
shiny gold to a shiny green
when viewed from differ-
ent angles. The patch can-
not be peeled off and if
you run your fingernail or
a similar sharp -edged
item across the patch, you
should not feel a raised
border.
The note features fluo-
rescent planchettes, or
green dots, randomly scat-
tered across both sides of
the bills. These
planchettes glow under a
UV light, are uniformly
round in shape and can be
scratched off of the note,
leaving a white spot on the
paper.
Fine line patterns are
visible in the portrait's
hair and face and particu-
larly in the concentric cir-
cles in the detail of the
portrait's eyes. They are
very difficult to reproduce.
All notes from the 1986
"Birds of Canada" series
feature raised, or intaglio,
ink on the numerals, por-
trait, coat of arms, broad
bands and the vignettes. If
you run a finger over
these features, they should
feel thicker to the touch.
Micro printing in the
background of the bank
note design uses very
small typefaces, which are
These notes also feature
colours, which are created
by unique security inks.
Comparing a known
genuine bank note to a
suspect note may enable
you to identify differences
in tone.
Finally, all bank notes
have a unique serial num-
bers which are printed
twice on the back of every
note. If you ever find notes
from the same series,
which have duplicate seri-
al numbers, at least one of
them is a counterfeit.
When uncertain whether
a note is genuine, you
should never rely on the
test of only one security
feature to validate its
authenticity. Pick a few
features that you are com-
fortable with and check
them all before deciding
what to do with a suspect
note. Lastly, keep in mind
that the individual may
not know they are passing
a counterfeit.
Contact your local police
immediately. Suspicion of
counterfeiting is a 9-1-1
call. If notes are discov-
ered after the passer has
left contact the police on a
non -emergency line by
calling 1-888-310-1122.
Do not return the note to
the passer and attempt to
delay their departure until
the police arrive, if possi-
ble without placing your-
self at risk. If they refuse
to surrender the note or
wait for the police inform
passer that it is illegal to
pass a counterfeit to any-
one but an police officer.
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