Events like Hurricane Harvey and the flooding in Texas remind us of how fragile and unpredictable life can be. We see, or even personally know, people and families who are suffering intensely as their lives are turned upside down. Receiving donations for flood relief and recording them properly is necessary to ensure donors have the… ⪼ Continue Reading…
Finance
There is no money in Revenue and Expense accounts
That’s right: revenue and expense accounts carry no balance of money. When bookkeepers don’t realize this principle of double entry accounting, it can lead to a lot of problems and frustration. A good church accounting software uses double entry accounting and complies with FASB standards. IconCMO’s fund accounting software does both. Double entry accounting is… ⪼ Continue Reading…
But I haven’t Spent my Budget (p3)
If you haven’t read the first part or second part of this series please take a moment to read them. Assumption #4 – we can use last years numbers and just increase/decrease them a little, commonly called an incremental budget. The interesting thing is that many churches do this type of budget. While it may… ⪼ Continue Reading…
But I haven’t Spent my Church Budget (p2)
Here’s the second part of a three-part series. If you haven’t read the first part of this series please read it here. Budgets work on assumptions, whereas financial statements work on actuals – what really happened to the money. Let’s look at some assumptions below that arise when ministries say they still have money in… ⪼ Continue Reading…
But I haven’t Spent my Budget (part 1)
How many times have church leadership heard a similar phrase to, ‘But I haven’t spent my budget’, when discussing ministry finances? In working with churches and their accounting systems, which involves budgeting, I see a lot of focus around budgets instead of the standard financial accounting reports approved by FASB (Financial Accounting Standard Board). While… ⪼ Continue Reading…
How to Budget a Church Mortgage Payment
A church budget is important to most church organizations and is a highly-utilized feature in IconCMO. However, budgets can only be set for revenue and expense accounts, which can pose a problem if you want to budget for a liability account such as a mortgage. For example, a typical Mortgage Payment of $1,000 looks like this:… ⪼ Continue Reading…