Adopt, accept, or approve the audit report

[swagaman]

Traditionally our organization has adopted a motion to "approve the audit report" at each annual meeting.  A member has suggested that the motion to "approve" is improper, that it should be a motion to "accept".  RONR uses both the terminology to "accept" and to "adopt" the audit report.  A search of this forum finds the term to "approve" the audit report used frequently.  Is there a difference?  Is the motion to approve the audit report improper?

[George Mervosh]

"No action of acceptance by the assembly is required—or proper—on a financial report of the treasurer unless it is of sufficient importance, as an annual report, to be referred to auditors. In the latter case it is the auditors' report which the assembly accepts. "  RONR (11th ed.), p. 479

However

"EQUIVALENCE OF TERMS; INCORRECT MOTIONS. As applied to an assembly's action with respect to board or committee reports or any of their contents, the expressions adopt, accept, and agree to are all equivalent—that is, the text adopted becomes in effect the act or statement of the assembly. It is usually best to use the word adopt, however, since it is the least likely to be misunderstood. "  RONR (11th ed.), p. 508 emphasis added by me.

[Richard Brown]

I think that is a practical matter it does not matter which term is used:  approve, accept, or adopt. If I recall correctly from what I read a few minutes ago, RONR uses the term "accept" once and "adopt" twice when referring to the auditor's report. I suppose the safest course may be to adopt the report, but I really think it makes no practical difference.

Edited October 9, 2018 at 01:14 PM by Richard Brown
Typographical corrections

[swagaman]

Thank you.  I thought our member was being a little picky.  Going forward we will use the term "adopt" as recommended by RONR.

[Joshua Katz]

But try saying "adopt the minutes" here and see what happens.

[George Mervosh]

12 minutes ago, Joshua Katz said:

But try saying "adopt the minutes" here and see what happens.

if it were a minutes approval committee submitting them, their report would be adopted.  

But if it makes you feel good to see it, see motion #46 in the tinted pages and smile!

[Richard Brown]

1 hour ago, Joshua Katz said:

But try saying "adopt the minutes" here and see what happens.

It's because, despite the citation George posted above, RONR says REPEATEDLY, throughout the book, that the minutes are to be APPROVED.  Not once does it suggest a motion to "adopt" the minutes.  Don't we spend enough time on this forum trying to get people to use the correct terminology that you can go along with what is CLEARLY the preferred usage in RONR?   See, for example, Motion # 45 in the tinted pages.  It's even listed as "Reading and Approval of Minutes" in the standard order of business. That is the terminology used throughout the book.   Try looking up "adopt" the minutes in the index.  You won't find it using any variation of the word.  But you will find 17 entries in the index under "Reading and Approval of Minutes".

Edited October 9, 2018 at 04:17 PM by Richard Brown
Edited first sentence

[Joshua Katz]

1 hour ago, Richard Brown said:

It's because, despite the citation George posted above, RONR says REPEATEDLY, throughout the book, that the minutes are to be APPROVED. 

But, as a wise man says:

 

4 hours ago, Richard Brown said:

I think that is a practical matter it does not matter which term is used:  approve, accept, or adopt.

Which, in my opinion, is right precisely because the words mean the same thing.

1 hour ago, Richard Brown said:

Don't we spend enough time on this forum trying to get people to use the correct terminology that you can go along with what is CLEARLY the preferred usage in RONR? 

If the alternative is incorrect, sure.