Posted by: Joel Gardner
This
week I’d like to talk about some practices that should be used to keep track of
your church expenses. Why is this
important you ask? It is important
because the money you spend is really God’s money. And the way this money is dealt with is not
only a reflection on your church, but also on God and his name. I hear of horror stories all the time of
instances when there is no check and balance system in place and it leads to
thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars being “lost”. So here are 5 practices to help prevent
“lost” money:
1) Make all out going payments by check or
draft.
Whether it is larger
expenses like paying monthly utilities, to smaller ones like reimbursing a
church member for purchasing the hotdogs for your summer cookout, making all of
these payments by check or draft is the best method. You will have a paper trail for all of your
expenses and will make your treasurer’s job a lot easier. In addition, this protects you from theft
because there is no loose petty cash in your office.
2) Give reimbursements only when there is
approved documentation for the purchases
Approved
documentation, such as a signed expense request form, can be vital to
controlling your operating expenses.
Before money is spent on events for the church, a designated person
should approve this expenditure. Receipts
showing the exact amount spent should accompany this documentation. This not only will help your staff stay on
budget, but will also set a precedent of planning events and resources needed
ahead of time, as opposed to making spontaneous purchases.
3) Mark supporting documents “paid”
Going along with
practice #2, once you receive the documentation requesting reimbursement and
have written the check, then mark this expense as paid and list the date and
check number, preventing any double disbursements.
4) Secure all blank checks on hand
It is important that there are no blank checks laying
around, they should all be in a secure location, preferably a locked security
box.
5) Have someone other than the individual
issuing checks reconcile the bank account to the check register
Reconciliation of the
bank account to the check register should be done on a regular basis. This may be challenging for a smaller church
that does not have someone other than the treasurer, but it is important to
have this check and balance set up for accountability purposes. Reconciliation is not just to check the
treasurer but also to check the bank.
Banks make mistakes too, so it is good at least monthly to make sure
your records and the bank’s match up. Your
church should use the register to keep track of all transactions made during
the month. It can be paper or electronic
and should have the date purchased, amount spent and purpose for each
transaction.
These are principles that will help your churches be the
best possible stewards of God’s money.
These principles also help assure your church body that their tithes and
offerings are being used carefully.
Contact me, Joel Gardner, with any questions by email at jgardner@arpsynod.org or (864)
232-8297.
