Keeping track of church finances can be harder than trying to balance the books for almost any other business. After all, not only are there grants, tithes, offerings and other similar types of income that bear no receipt that will be coming in all the time, but some of these will be eligible for HMRD gift aid and some will not.
Keeping a track of all money that is going in and out is often seen as an easy task, but more and more churches are filing returns that are inaccurate, costing them a great deal of money in many different ways. Not only might there be fines due for erroneous returns, but by not understanding one’s current financial position, it is far easier to run up debts that later cannot be repaid.
The role of accounting can also often fall to an individual with no real knowledge of finance due to the limited number of staff that a church’s payroll is likely to be able to support. As such, miscalculations are very easy to make and it is also simply very easy to not be clued up on all of the most recent legislation regarding tax, pay and even monies that are received.
However, the job can be made far simpler just by using the right software. With many different programs on the market to simplify the process of church accounting, it will be very easy to turn what can be a confusing and ultimately costly process into one that is extremely accurate and ultimately one that will help an institution manage it’s finances far more successfully.
It is not uncommon for churches to file for bankruptcy and in these instances it is far more likely that mistakes were made in accounting than the it being due to the income the church received simply not being enough for it to survive on. As such, the right software could not only help save money, but also help save the churches themselves.