How to keep track of church finances

Business metric tracking is very different from church accounting. While a business must create and maintain balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and other financial reports, churches do not. Church bookkeeping software focuses on recording contributions, such as tithing and offerings. Since giving to a church is tax deductible, what members give to the church typically comes at the end of every year. It’s important for churches to record giving to offer that statement each member tax season.

Step 1.

Budgeting is an integral step in successfully managing your finances and making financial decisions. When you’re in the accounting business, using a ledger is one of the common tools used to track income and expenses. To start budgeting, put all revenue and expense transactions into columns with dates at the top and descriptions. Once that’s completed, you can use this information for financial planning.

Step 2.

To keep track of your revenue increases, it’s helpful to create an increase date in the date column and write an explanation for the increase in the Description column.

Step 3.

In order to record the decrease in your expenses, write-in the date in the Date column and describe them in the Description column.

Step 4.

In a separate notebook, there should be pages for each member of the church. Keep track of all names and in which file they’re located.

Step 5.

The church’s first priority is that every member of the congregation has the chance to help support their local congregation. It’s one thing for individual members to contribute on an ongoing basis, but it’s another for people to write their contributions down and make an effort. Envelopes are used to record these contributions and make sure anything can be found in a searchable database.

Step 6.

After all other details are confirmed, the amount inside each seal should be checked against the amount written on the seal before it is opened.

Step 7.

The money should be recorded in the ledger under Revenues, and the transaction amount should be calculated to the appropriate number.

Step 8.

As you’re filling out the offer, record the date on which it was made and the amount of money contributed.