I've been asked more than once over the years ... "How much does your church keep in reserve?" My answer? "It depends." I haven’t encountered a “standard” for cash reserves that works for everyone. As church leaders, we know that having a reserve is good, but we’re not in the money-saving business. We’re in the money-spending business (for the good of the Kingdom, of course). We have to spend money to accomplish … [Read more...]
Creating A Chart Of Accounts
Creating The "Backbone" Of The Church's Financial Infrastructure
A fundamental first step in completing a financial plan is creating a Chart Of Accounts. I've had more than a few conversations with church leaders on this topic. In my experience, reporting is the primary thing to consider when creating a Chart Of Accounts. I've run into more than a few financial types who want to break everything down into its category and subcategory to the point of uselessness. Those in the … [Read more...]
Creating The Annual Budget
The Annual Process Of Developing The Budget, Along With A Few Pointers
As an Executive Pastor, one of the things I could never avoid was doing the budget for the church each year. The budget was due to the eldership in early December, and it took a bunch of work to get it together. I typically started working on it in mid to late September. I wanted to share the process I went through each year and a few pointers. I’ll assume your church uses QuickBooks or some other application that … [Read more...]
Help With The Annual Budget
A List Of Executive Pastor Online Budgeting Resources
I hear it all the time, "Sunday comes with amazing regularity, every 7 days." As an executive pastor, I would say that financial planning comes with amazing regularity. Knowing that many of you are now working on your church's 2022 budget, I thought I would post a list of Executive Pastor Online resources that will help you get it done. Take a look ... Developing An Income Model Creating A Chart Of … [Read more...]