Saturday 8 June 2019

Are You Running A Church? Here Is The Importance Of Bookkeeping For Churches

By Rebecca Phillips


Nowadays, the church business has grown in terms of finances. People who own and manage them now handle billions of money. To ensure that the churches run in an effective way, the managers and owners should manage these finances well. A number of ways are used to manage the cash. One of the ways is bookkeeping. This is a process through which managers of an organization analyze financial information in a way that the stakeholders of a church understand that information. Many people assume that accountants are not needed in church since it is a non-profit organization, but this is not the case. Below are some of the benefits of bookkeeping for churches.

The property and asset of the church can be easily mishandled. This is because unlike other organizations, there are very few measures that have been set to safeguard the assets, and people are rarely alert. But when you have sound accounting doctrines, you will notice that you are able to safeguard the assets and properties of the church.

Every church has projects that they would want to carry out. It takes financial resources actually to carry out these projects. But you cannot follow through a project unless you know the financial resources that you have. Having good financial and accounting records allow you to plan for projects and increase progress in the church.

The stakeholders of your church are your members. They need to know how the money they contribute is spent. If they do not have this information, then it may discourage them from contributing because they have no idea how their finances are managed.

Sometimes a church may require a lot of money for their projects. One of the ways to get such money is through getting loans from financial institutions. For you to be given a loan, you need to have financial records of your organization. This is why keeping these records is essential.

A church is not a business entity. However, the government does not view it this way because it creates income. Money donated directly may not be taxed, but businesses associated with the church will. The government will need to evaluate your books of accounts now and then. Therefore, it is important you always have them ready in case they come knocking.

As church members, you need to know whether your church is growing or not. You can only know this when you evaluate your financial records. An accountant is needed to create and keep books of account so that you can be able to see the progress of the church financially.

Bookkeeping is very important but it is neglected by a lot of churches. It is assumed that a church may not require maintaining their books because it is not considered a profit-making organization, but, this is not the case. As a church leader or manager, you should insist on having good financial records. The advantages of having these records have been highlighted to offer informative information when you are discussing whether to hire a bookkeeper or not.




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