The purpose of Step One is to make sure you are staying on “mission”. This is accomplished by reviewing the church’s mission, vision and strategy. Each church needs to know three things: – Who it is. (Values) – Where it is going. (Mission) – How it is going to get there. (Strategy) Without knowing these […]
There is no one way to do a church budget. There are a variety of approaches and for the most part, no one way is better than the other. Remember mission and vision? These two factors will also impact how a church goes about its financial planning. I do have to point out however, that […]
I ended the last post by asking, “Are these definitions sufficient?” Obviously the answer is no because that would be the end of this blog series! Keep in mind that the three definitions posted were all written by accountants… As a result, the main flaw with these definitions is that they appear to be about […]
Before launching into a study of anything, I like to make sure I have at least a basic understanding of what the topic is all about. So, before launching into church budget development I looked up a few definitions of what a budget is: An accounting device used to plan and control resources of operational […]
Our next series of posts will be a discussion of budget planning for the church. As I commented on our other blog (Faith Based Accounting: July 27, 2012) “Attitudes about budgets vary greatly among churches. Some churches operate without one, a practice I definitely do not recommend. Many others swing to the other extreme expending […]
Churches have embraced the digital world and are becoming very proficient in the use of computers. A vast array of applications has been made available to the church including sophisticated financial accounting and reporting, childcare security, online purchasing, online tithing, phone trees and coffee bars with free wireless internet. Without a doubt, churches have become […]
A close cousin to ignoring the bank reconciliation is maintaining an excessive number of bank accounts. Rather than using their church accounting software to take care of measuring and tracking restricted giving, some churches open separate bank accounts for each new special gift that may arise. This results in a number of problems: Burdens the […]
One of the more serious traps churches can fall into is poor bank reconciliation practices. Some of the ways we have seen this played out: Due to understaffing and time pressures, bank accounts are not reconciled for months at a time. Bank reconciliations are not complete consisting only of checking for cleared checks and surface level comparison […]
Another practice of many churches plays right into one of a fraudster’s strengths, the ability to withhold information. Perhaps in an attempt to avoid interminably long finance committee meetings brought on by micro-managing members, or more likely, fearful that the messenger is going be killed, some church administrators tend to hold back on the financial […]
Attitudes about budgets vary greatly among churches. Some churches operate without one, a practice I definitely do not recommend. Many others swing to the other extreme expending great amounts of time (and blood, sweat and tears…) creating a budget plan. But that is only the start. After all of the effort is expended, they then […]