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.
Even if a member of your congregation is a nonprofit accountant or bookkeeper, engaging a specialist to help with your church’s bookkeeping will likely be a sizable investment. We encourage you to make this investment a priority. Doing so can benefit your church in three ways:
While mistakes in church bookkeeping are not uncommon, there are steps that you can take to avoid them.
A church bookkeeping system should be set up that tracks income and expenses as well as assets and liabilities.
The church cannot keep its books organized by keeping a check book.
Now is the perfect time to use our church bookkeeping services to ensure your financial records and policies are set up correctly. Plus, since you likely have a limited team, it helps to outsource your bookkeeping so you can focus on growing your organization and never get behind.
So if you are on the fence whether to classify a worker as an employee or an independent contractor ...go ahead and classify and pay your worker as an employee!
Working in church accounting, you share the same responsibilities as an accountant in any other organization. You record expenses, track contributions made by the congregation, and monitor spending on various programs. Your duties center around bookkeeping, documenting and controlling finances for a church.
81% of church revenue came from individual donations. 34% of congregations have endowments, which constituted on average 4% of their revenue. Only 2% of churches received revenue from government grants; 12% received finance from non-government grants.
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.)