The church's administrative and leadership staff can focus on its mission rather than on bookkeeping.
....Another good reason to keep financial records is to make informed financial decisions. If you can pull up a report, you will be able see that your expenses are higher than they were in previous years.
Church bookkeeping errors are bound to happen; however, there are some measures you can put into place to catch them.
An area of high risk for churches is the lack of internal controls. External auditors can reconcile bank accounts and track deposits and check them. This increases the safety of your congregation's finances.
The IRS can impose severe penalties on churches for failing to classify and pay a worker with a 1099...which the IRS considers an employee.
Even if you have a church member who is a certified accountant or bookkeeper, hiring a specialist for your church's bookkeeping needs will likely be a large investment. We recommend that you make this an important priority. Three ways that investing in your church will benefit you are:
In the case of a church, a bookkeeper could be required to also wear the shoes of an accountant and treasurer. They are therefore in charge of all financial aspects of the church. Their responsibilities include but are not limited to;
Bookkeepers maintain the financial records of the church that includes income and expense records. They are supposed to keep records of the dates and amount of every transaction of the church.
Churches call the traditional balance sheet a statement of financial position. It uses the accounting equation “Assets = Liabilities + Equity” to show a snapshot of your organization's financial health. It also shows the current balance of each of your funds if you've been implementing fund accounting for your church.
How To Manage Church Records
Identify The Church Records That You're Going To Manage. Based on your local state laws you will need to figure out what records are imperative to keep. ...
Implement A Retention Schedule. ...
Establish Retention And Destruction Policies.