Bonnie Wood
McKinney Fellowship Bible Church, Business Finance Department Manager

This is the only church I’ve ever worked in and I love it. It’s a definitely a calling. My boss is the pastor of business operations. We regularly have 2,000-2,500 people attending weekend services, but there are over 4,000 members.

People trying to do ministry work don’t always appreciate the documentation that is necessary to ensure accountability and often consider it red tape and bureaucratic, but knowing that what you are actually doing is safeguarding our 501c3 status so we can continue to minister is rewarding.

I’ve been here since 2002 and worked with PSK through six audits. We’ve worked with Verne the whole time—he leads the teams that we work with each year. In the past, we have worked with Dondi Hayhurst and Autumn Awalt. The past two years we have worked with Kevin Brock. They have all been very easy to work with and very helpful.

I have gone to several of PSK’s seminars—which offer content of great value. I have attended other conferences, as well, and I highly recommend PSK to other attendees while at these events. When I hear the horror stories from other churches, it makes me appreciate our relationship with PSK. We are very fortunate to have them as our accountants.

I strongly believe that, even if a church isn’t required to have an audit for financing on a building or whatever, a church should have an audit every year. People call me “By the Book Bonnie,” because I am a stickler for making sure we are complying with good stewardship practices and the IRS. I keep Richard Hammer’s book, “The Church Guide to Copyright Law: Complete Coverage of All Important Copyright Issues for Churches and Clergy” on my desk and refer to it often. However, sometimes I have questions and PSK is always there to help me understand or interpret it.

Even in the secular world, I worked with a lot of CPA firms. As far as the church goes, “it’s God’s business.” I make sure we are doing everything in compliance with the law and what the congregation would approve of.

With our first contact with PSK, we had good rapport right off the bat and our accountant actually said we made their lives easier. If something new comes up, I can call PSK and they are more than willing to share their knowledge. They’re very accessible, even when they’re busy or out of the office; the time it takes for them to get back to me is very reasonable.

As a church employee, part of our yearly evaluation process includes answering the question, “what is your favorite part of the job?” Honestly, I write that my favorite part of my job is working with the PSK auditors every year—knowing that they really do appreciate what we do to keep a high standard of integrity.

Bonnie is the manager of the Business Finance Department of McKinney Fellowship Bible Church. She started in accounts payable and her role grew over the years. She has been with the church for over six years now. Her past roles include work in the insurance industry for eight years where she became known as “By the Book Bonnie,” has worked for a CPA firm, and for the military. She was a liaison between the Air Force and a contractor. Her predecessor had no procedures in place, so Bonnie created them. The military liked her processes so much, the Inspector General team used them as their standards worldwide. The contractor at the time, Motorola, offered her a job to stay in Germany and train all of the bases in NATO on the procedures. However, since her husband was also in the military, they could not stay together, so she declined the offer and went with her husband to his new assignment.