Church Budget: How to Prepare and Set Up
There are three different budgeting processes for the preparation of a church's annual operating budget:
(1) Incremental budgeting; (2) Zero-based budgeting; and (3) Program budgeting.
The first step should be to establish a target budget amount for the upcoming year. This could be based on funding, pledges received, past levels of giving and projected growth, assessed needs or a combination of these criteria. Click here for 7 church budget tips. A church budget will include some variation of the following major categories:
See an
example of a church budget
Finances always are a delicate subject in any church or nonprofit. Without adequate funds, your organization cannot continue to minister effectively. Part of an effective ministry is meeting your financial obligations. It is important to protect your organization's reputation in your community, to your bank, staff and vendors. It is a sad situation when a church or nonprofit does not pay its bills on time or has to ask its staff members to hold their pay checks until after Sunday's offering or when more funds become available.
So prepare your budgets carefully and prayerfully. We are to be good stewards of the funds God entrusts to us, and part of that responsibility is to meet our financial obligations in a timely manner. Want more budget tips? Want free accounting software? Sign up for my newsletter Stewardship:
Additional Resources
Basic Church Accounting
will provide you with a better understanding of the basic concepts of church accounting and give you some examples on recording common church transactions.
You will also receive a free bonus fund accounting report that includes 3 methods for setting up QuickBooks Pro for fund accounting and examples of setting up fund accounting systems. If your church is discussing the potential of laying off staff in order to reduce personnel expenses and the budget. Please read this article first:
Before Reducing Church Staff
It contains a disc with many church finance documents. It also contains a wonderful budget excel worksheets!
We get so busy with our church's finances that sometimes we let ours go. Here is an excellent site to remedy that:
www.christianpf.com, is a nice resource for your personal financial issues. Bob Lotich also has provided some wonderful free personal budget spreadsheets which makes him a pretty good guy in my books :)
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is a practical tool that provides treasurers everything they need to know about handling church finances. From an overview of duties to helpful guidelines for completing tasks, new and veteran treasurers alike will learn practical tips and time-saving suggestions that will help them carry out their responsibilities in an effective and efficient manner.
