A comparison of the seminaries’ cash-on-hand as of July 31:
2004:
Golden Gate — not reported
Midwestern — $1,097,608.00
New Orleans — $1,561,409.00
Southeastern — $5,311,077.00
Southern — $1,407,534.00
Southwestern — $6,166,528.00
2005:
Golden Gate — $643,364.00
Midwestern — $1,164.683.00
New Orleans — $3,654.328.00
Southeastern — $6,196,218.00
Southern — $905,610.00
Southwestern — $5,578,417.00
Difference:
Golden Gate — unavailable
Midwestern — $67,075.00
New Orleans — $2,092,919.00
Southeastern — $885,141.00
Southern — ($501,924.00)
Southwestern — ($588,111.00)
Congratulations, Southwestern Seminary. You finished 2005 having depleted your cash-on-hand totals more than any other SBC seminary.
The Baptist Blogger 
Bro Ben
I appreciate much of what you write, but I have to ask what you are doing here.
a) Southern’s drop “by percentage” was 35.6% as compared to Southwestern’s 9.5%. Your using the words “more than” is technically correct concerning the dollar amount of the depletion, but certainly you would agree that the percentage amount of the drop would reflect the comparisons more accurately?
b) As long as there is good “cash flow”, “cash on hand totals” don’t mean much by themselves. Southwestern could have purchased a $600,000 cooling/heating system for a building, could have moved $600,000 into short term investments, etc. Any number of things could account for a lower “cash on hand” from one year to another and serve as no indicator whatsoever in the financial health of the organization.
If from one year to another you made the same and spent the same, but on Decmeber 31 of the second year, you had to put a $1,200 roof on your home, your cash on hand on December 31 is $1,200 less than it would have been, but your home value went up because of the new roof. If I just saw your checkbook and didn’t know about the new roof, I would assume you depleted your cash by $1,200 with nothing to show for it. Brother, that is basically what I see above. Can you clarify what you wrote, please?
Blessings
Lou