Parish Financial Practices- Audit Guidelines - Guidelines for conducting financial audits in parishes of the Diocese of the Western Pennsylvania are offered here.
- Donation Privacy -Confidentiality is NOT Secrecy. Article
- IRS Regulations - A document from the IRS titled Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations can be found here.
- Pro's and Con's of Endowments - Parishes consider establishing an endowment may find useful insight in this article.
- Your Parish Budget - What does it convey about your parish? See article
- Replacement Reserve Analysis - Whether your parish facilities are new or ancient consider undertaking a well thought out, comprehensive "Replacement Reserve Analysis".
- Top Ten Church Financial Mistakes - A recent article at churchleaders.com offers one person's list of top church financial mistakes. The list is worth a quick scan we think. Among the items listed: "too many designated giving options", "too many asks"; "no audit"... (seven) more. See article
- Tips for Counting Cash -- When churches receive tithes and offerings substantial record keeping and an effective internal control structure is needed. Here, from an article at managingyourchurch.com, are 10 ways to strengthen control of your cash receipts, and some tips on making cash disbursements:
- For your offerings, enlist money counters (tellers) who aren't related by family and don't work at the same place during the week. Read the rest of this article here
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Best Practices Manual -- The Parish Council has a duty of care to properly oversee financial practices of the parish. Do your parish council have clear policies concerning:
- Conflict of interest
- Donor restrictied gifts
- Fund raising appealOperational controls of funds and accounts
- Financial reporting
- Spending practices
The parish council at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Overland Park KS recently developed a best practices manual for answering these questions. The document has been posted here for your review. Use it as a starting point for your procedures.
