Financial Responsibilities and Processes for Your Church Staff.

What are some financial responsibilities you can delegate to you church staff?

Proper handling of money is important to churches of all sizes.

Internal accounting controls are essential in properly managing and caring for God’s resources.

Outlined below are some of the financial responsibilities that you might delegate to the staff at your church:

Counting Committee

Requires at least two unrelated persons to serve as the Counting Committee.

• Prepares a collection report, including a list of all checks received.
• Verifies that the amount written on the offering envelopes matches the contents of the envelopes and all checks are restrictively endorsed.
• Signs and dates collection report verifying everything recorded is correct.

Financial Secretary / Administrative Assistant

• Supervise the Counting Committee.
• Records the contributions to each family’s contribution record.
• Prepares journal entries and post them to the general ledger.
• Deposits the funds in the bank in a timely fashion.

Each church is unique and needs to outline which duties each staff member will have. Just remember...the individuals counting the offering should not record the contributions. The person writing checks should not reconcile the bank statement and the person reviewing the bank statement should not have any access to the funds.

• Process all checks, recording them in the appropriate accounting software program.
• Signs checks
• Process all payroll checks, Tax Form 941’s, W-2’s and other government records required in a timely fashion.
• Insure that computer files are backed up weekly, at a minimum monthly, and the back-ups are stored off premises.
• Prepares the monthly and annual finance report.
• Supervise daily cash balances to insure sufficient funds are maintained.
• Maintains filing system and storage system for all financial records and banking records for easy retrieval.
• Prepares records for annual audit<,/li>
• Maintain historical data, and establish a retention system for old financial records in accordance with government requirements (minimum of 5 years).

Financial Advisor

This is my title at our church. You can title this person whatever you want. However, the following duties should be performed by a person other than the Financial Secretary or Church Treasurer.

• Perform bank reconciliation each month in a timely fashion.
• Verify that all checks have been properly signed.
• Verify that the bank balance reconciles to the bookkeeping records.
• Verifies that the beginning balance equals the ending balance of the previous month both in the checking account and the general ledger.
• Signs and dates the reconciliation report.

Confidentiality of Information

It is very important that anyone who has access to the contribution records of individual donors keep this information strictly confidential. Try to keep the number of people with access to individuals' contribution records to a minimum.

What are some proper processes for checks and deposits?

Check Writing

• Ideally there should be 3 people who can sign checks in case of an emergency.
• The check stub, copy of the check or the check number should be attached to the authorization and documentation (receipts, etc.) and filed for auditing purposes.

Deposits

• All checks and cash that are received should be processed in a timely fashion with all checks stamped, “For Deposit Only”.
• Records must be kept so that retrieval of the items deposited can be verified in case there is a dispute over an item deposited.
• Develop a numbering system to match deposit slip with computer records.

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Additional Resources

Recommended Reading and Products:

The Church Administrative Assistant's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Maximize the Ministry of the Pastor and Staff By Rose Graham / lifestream Optimize the efficiency of your church staff with this tried-and-tested tool! Includes position profiles and hiring expectations; questionnaires to help determine work style, personality, and spiritual gifts; guidelines for accomplishing daily tasks; tips for working with volunteers; policies and procedures; event planning; a CD-ROM with reproducible adaptable forms, checklists, and templates; and more. 176 pages, 3-ring binder from Beacon Hill.

Church Administration Handbook: A Revised and Completely Updated Edition By B & H Publishing Group Is your church's administration helping to further its mission or holding it back? Packed with practical, time-tested guidelines, this comprehensive resource will help you successfully organize and implement a wide variety of programs, from office administration and finances to special events and new ministries. 320 pages, softcover from B&H.

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