Does a church file an income tax return
Maintaining a check register is not a reliable church bookkeeping system.
Sometimes congregations find themselves stuck with bookkeeping issues or need to outsource their bookkeeping. FT Walton Church Bookkeeping LLC offers bookkeeping services that are specifically tailored for churches.
Even if you have a church member who is a certified accountant or bookkeeper, hiring a specialist for your church's bookkeeping needs will likely be a large investment. We recommend that you make this an important priority. Three ways that investing in your church will benefit you are:
Maintaining a check register is not a reliable church bookkeeping system.
While you focus on getting to know your community and growing your organization, we'll work to make the accounting function easy and ensure that your financial records are maintained correctly and accurately.
Churches are most at risk if they lack internal controls. A person outside your financial system can reconcile your bank accounts, track and verify your deposits, and make sure your checks are paid. This will increase the security of your congregation's assets.
We can arrange regular meetings so that you can discuss the reports you need. Also, you can access the bookkeeping online to pull reports and look over the books at any time.
So why consider outsourcing? For some smaller to medium-sized churches, having an outsourced bookkeeper can increase expertise & accuracy, lower bookkeeping costs, and provide a missing link in internal controls. Let’s take a look at these one-by-one:
81% of church revenue came from individual donations. 34% of congregations have endowments, which constituted on average 4% of their revenue. Only 2% of churches received revenue from government grants; 12% received finance from non-government grants.
Churches call the traditional balance sheet a statement of financial position. It uses the accounting equation “Assets = Liabilities + Equity” to show a snapshot of your organization's financial health. It also shows the current balance of each of your funds if you've been implementing fund accounting for your church.
Churches And Transparency
The standards of the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability require that member organizations provide audited financial statements on request.