Some months ago I saw posted on a message board that some churches were using an accounting software made for farmers. Farm accounting program that works for churches? Really? Only $75/year? This sounds way too good to be true. In this post I give my review.
In my accountability group (Band Meeting), we are becoming more diligent about tracking the areas of life we struggle with. While I realize this could lead someone to becoming more legalistic, it can also help you honestly view your struggles.
No surprise…I created a spreadsheet!
In the church world, there are two problems with Paid Time Off. The first is people not using it which can lead to burnout and bitterness. The second is people not even tracking the time they use which can lead to suspicion.
This is a problem a good spreadsheet can help with!
From time to time you will see in the headlines someone embezzling money from a church or nonprofit. Often they are caught stealing over $100,000. How do they do this? Are they a criminal mastermind with a complicated scheme?
Mostly they are just cutting checks to themselves or to pay personal bills. How would you catch this? With an independent bank reconciliation!
Do you know the most difficult fraud to detect? It’s when people steal cash from the offering plate. Sometimes we put people in a very difficult situation where they are responsible for counting the cash alone. Yikes!
Here’s some tips on how to avoid this situation.
Unfortunately sometimes people steal from the church. Most often this happens when normally good people are put in bad positions. Maybe they have a big medical bill or their spouse lost their job. Then, if the church has little to no internal controls, they may attempt to “borrow” from the church honestly hoping to pay it back later.
Your internal controls can help prevent good people from acting on bad temptations. It will also help catch people just looking to steal.
In this post, I share with you the #1 thing a church can do to prevent (not detect) fraud.
Normally at year end we take extra time to review our financial statements. It’s usually at that time that you notice if you have a lot of designated or donor-restricted funds. Do we have to track them in perpetuity or can we legally clean them up? I give you the four step process for cleaning up old designated funds.