Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Individual Payments: Contractors and Benevolence. We asked churches to respond to these statements: “Before paying an individual as an independent contractor, our church applies IRS compliant tests to determine if the payee qualifies as an independent contractor.” “Our church has written a policy to direct benevolence […]
Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Information Technology Security. We asked churches to respond to these statements: “Our church has a formal information technology security plan.” “Our church financial secretary or accountant/bookkeeper has access to all modules of the church’s software system.” Churches struggle to keep up with the challenges of the rapid change […]
Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Payroll Fraud and Phantom Employees. We asked churches to respond to these statements: “Someone not involved in the payroll preparation process distributes paychecks or direct deposit stubs.” “We review direct deposit account information for duplicate accounts.” Survey Results – Very few churches do any kind of employee […]
Our Fraud Awareness in the Church series continues as we look at Payroll Fraud. PSK in cooperation with the National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA) conducted a survey to determine the extent of fraud awareness in the church environment. We asked churches to respond to this statement: “Each quarter we reconcile the total payroll amounts on the quarterly payroll reports (941s) to the […]
Part 8 of our ongoing Fraud in the Church series. PSK in cooperation with the National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA) conducted a survey to determine the extent to which churches are attempting to address the problem of church fraud. We asked them to respond to this statement: Our church reconciles payroll quarterly reports with the payroll journals and general […]
Except in the rarest of cases, personnel costs are the single largest expenditure of a church. Because churches are in the “service industry”, it should come as no surprise that forty-five to fifty percent of the typical church budget will be dedicated to employee related costs. This highlights a basic principle in the behavior of […]
“We have rotating count teams with clear rules that account for every penny we collect in offerings…” While this statement is not inaccurate, it is short-sighted. When churches think of fraud, Sunday offering protection is usually the first thing that comes to mind. And as a result, most churches do a very good job in […]
“Our bookkeeper has been a member and served our church for many years. We trust him/her completely…” Church’s Secretary accused of embezzling $1.5 million Former pastor guilty of stealing from church Church’s former secretary jailed on fraud charges Priests get jail for stealing from church Church secretary accused of stealing thousands Woman accused of stealing […]