We offer our clients an in depth knowledge of the unique challenges facing religious organizations today. We spend many hours every year continuing to stay abreast of the new regulations and current tax laws that will affect our non-profit clients including churches, synagogues, mosques, church schools, church daycares and other religious-based organizations.
The problem is that neither the Pastor nor the good hearted volunteer may know how to set up and maintain a proper accounting system, so you end up with an ineffective church bookkeeping system...and may not even realize it...until you have bills not being paid, or doubled paid...or financial records that nobody can make sense of...or make proper financial decisions with.
You may need more functionality in your church than QuickBooks Premier Plus. Particularly, your church will need to manage volunteers and events and enable online giving.
However, every church needs to manage finances. Weekly tithes, offerings and taxes are due. There are bills to pay and needs to meet. And, of course, salaries to be paid. It's hard to keep track. Even if your Excel skills are not great and you don't understand how to tell a debit from credit, church accounting software can help you navigate the terrain.
Hiring a "experienced" bookkeeper is not very high on their list of necessities. So the Pastor either does the bookkeeping themselves or corrals a member with some "financial" or "organizational" skills and turns it over to them.
Your congregation will be able reassure you that donations and tithes have been used as intended. Congregants are more likely to give again if they feel their donations were being used properly.
In the case of a church, a bookkeeper could be required to also wear the shoes of an accountant and treasurer. They are therefore in charge of all financial aspects of the church. Their responsibilities include but are not limited to;
Here is a quick breakdown of some of the most common tasks you will need to accomplish when doing your church bookkeeping.
Enter Income And Expenses. ...
Track Contributions And Prepare Bank Deposits. ...
Pay Bills. ...
Journal Entries. ...
Complete A Bank Reconciliation.
seven years
Financial Records are traditionally kept for seven years. This relates to the laws of tax audits and the number of years back the IRS is allowed to look when determining an organization's tax liability.
Churches and religious nonprofits must maintain highly accurate accounting and bookkeeping records in order to maintain their nonprofit status, budget accurately, and provide reporting to government entities and their parishoners or members.
The IRS may begin a church tax inquiry only if an appropriate high-level Treasury official reasonably believes, based on a written statement of the facts and circumstances, that the organization: (a) may not qualify for the exemption; or (b) may not be paying tax on unrelated business or other taxable activity.