Essential Administrative Practices for Every Church

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, here are some important financial practices, policies & procedures that will strengthen your organization.

1. All accounting functions should be handled by qualified, competent personnel.

• Hire an accountant, not a bookkeeper. Today’s tax laws are very complex and require specialized knowledge to ensure compliance.

• Assign individuals or groups to tasks that don’t require specialized knowledge (counting, bank deposits, etc.) and outline these individuals or groups in the church’s organizational chart.

• The pastor should NOT handle money or sign checks.

2. Your church should have a written, up-to-date accounting procedures manual.

• The accounting procedure manual must establish accounting procedures and responsibilities.

3. Record Keeping and Check Signing should be kept separate.

• The separation of the duties is essential to a successful internal financial control system and will reduce the risk of misappropriation of funds.

• Record keeping and check writing responsibilities must be kept separate.

4. Accounting facilities should be kept locked at all times..

• Securing the premises to safeguard the church’s assets is just good common sense.

5. Accounting records should be safeguarded at all times.

• Special care should be exercised over the storage of accounting records. Make sure historical records are not destroyed, altered, or tampered with. Purge and shred historical records when allowable by law.

6. Quarterly internal audit by special committee operational.

• An internal audit committee is usually made up of members with accounting or business backgrounds. Their responsibility is to regularly review the accounting records.

7. Annual external audit of accounting records, practices and procedures

• An annual professional audit offers the church several advantages. First, knowledge of an annual inspection is a natural deterrent to embezzlement. Second, it is critical when applying for most funding.

8. All personnel must be screened.

• Amazingly enough, 70 percent of all embezzlers are repeat offender.

9. All employees who have access to cash should be bonded

• A fidelity bond provides insurance protection for the church if there is any lapse in the integrity of the accounting system. Various types of fidelity bonds can be purchased. Blanket bonds can cover the entire staff without people’s names or the positions they hold being listed.

Thank you Urban Awareness USA, for blessing me and many others with these "Nine Essential Administrative Practices for Every Church"