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:
The church cannot keep its books organized by keeping a check book.
A church bookkeeping system should be set up that tracks income and expenses as well as assets and liabilities.
Our clients receive a deep understanding of the unique challenges that religious organizations face today. We invest many hours each year learning about the current tax laws and new regulations that will affect non-profit clients such as churches, synagogues or mosques, school for religious studies, daycares for children, and other religious-based groups.
While mistakes in church bookkeeping are not uncommon, there are steps that you can take to avoid them.
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.
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!
The biblical pattern shows without question that the pastor should be involved in the oversight of the church's finances, however, Scripture also prescribes the attitude and actions of the pastor to avoid disqualification of influence and trust.
In a non-profit organization, such as a church, the board is the bearer of this fiduciary responsibility and therefore should properly oversee all operations, including finances, to protect the members of the 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.