During the first six months of 1896 the International Sabbath School Association raised $10,878—an enormous sum in those days—for the “Southern work.” 37Ronald Graybill, Mission to Black America, pp. 107, 108 Embarrassingly, these funds never reached their destination. The money was at first held in trust by the Pacific Press. It appears that the Pacific Press decided to keep the money permanently in lieu of a similar amount owed the Press by the General Conference. The Pacific Press management apparently expected the General Conference, in turn, to appropriate an equal sum to the Southern Missionary Society. But this was not done, since the General Conference coffers were either empty or nearly so. EGWCPT 12.11
This unfortunate incident took place 18 years before the creation of the General Conference Auditing Service in 1914. Today all church funds, and their keepers, are closely and regularly monitored at all levels to reduce the incidence of mismanagement to the lowest possible degree. EGWCPT 13.1