As your church grows, you might find you need more functionality than QuickBooks Premier Plus offers alone. In particular, your growing church will need to manage volunteers and events, enable online giving, and possibly even run email campaigns.
There is no one church that is the same. Every church has different needs. This is due to its size, available volunteers, resources, and staffing capabilities. FT Walton Church Bookkeeping LLC offers many options that can help churches manage their financial systems, or even assist them in helping with existing ones. Below are four possible service options. We can customize one for you.
Even if someone in your congregation is a bookkeeper or accountant for nonprofits, hiring a specialist will be a substantial investment. We urge you to make this a priority. It can bring benefits to your church three ways
A key area that churches are at greatest risk is internal controls. It is important that someone outside your financial system reconciles your bank accounts, tracks and verifies your deposits and checks, which increases your congregation’s security.
Listening is the foundation for a client relationship that is built on trust. Our mission is for you to receive financial leadership, guidance, and advice that can be used to grow your religious organization.
There is another reason to keep track . It helps you make better financial decisions. You should be able to look at a report and see how you spend more on expenses than you did in prior years.
Your congregation will be able reassure you that donations and tithes have been used as intended. Congregants are more likely to give again if they feel their donations were being used properly.
All organizations should follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), using an accrual basis to record income and expenses when they are earned and incurred. However, many churches use a cash basis—recording income and expenses when they are received and paid—or a combination of both approaches.
Common Church Budget Categories
Personnel (salaries, benefits, etc.)
Administration (operating expenses)
Facilities and Equipment (utilities, insurance on property, maintenance)
Outreach (missions, evangelism, social events, etc.)
Diocesan Canons state that treasurers and other officers of a church parish, mission or other institution be “bonded” according to Episcopal Church Canons. Episcopal Church Canons require that treasurers be “adequately bonded.”
Churches And Transparency
The standards of the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability require that member organizations provide audited financial statements on request.