Finance advice and support for resource church leaders

A primary function of the resource church leader role, in relation to finance, is understanding the financial resources and risks of running the organisation, so that stewardship of resources is appropriate to allow the ministry and mission objectives to be achieved in the short, medium and long term. To do this, the resource church leader will need to recruit and manage people to carry out the day-to-day work on finance and provide the resource church leader with appropriate timely information as the basis for informed decisions. These people may include paid staff (employees; contractors; workers) and volunteers.

Managing financial resources can be challenging, as resource church leaders want to drive the church ministry and mission forward, and to sometimes find that there is not enough money to do so, in the timescales hoped for, can be frustrating. However, if money is not managed and taken into account at an early stage of planning then it can easily become the restricting factor, whereby ministry and mission plans may have to be curtailed at short notice, which nobody wants to do. There is always a tension between what we believe the Lord has called us to do with the belief that he will provide the resources to enable his plans. Having an understanding of the current financial position and three-to-five-year forecast, based on probable income and expenditure is imperative.

Having people to help you in your immediate context (e.g. Ops Manager with finance expertise; a member of the congregation or your PCC with professional finance expertise) can make all the difference to you feeling confident in the finance information that you are presented with. Knowing where to access additional support (paid or unpaid; in person or online) is also key to having the right support available to you, suitable for your context, at the right time.

There are five key aspects of financial management to have in place.

1. Timely and accurate recording of income and approval and making of expenditure
2. Timely and accurate preparation and reporting of payroll for any employees in the church
3. Timely and accurate gift aid and any other tax returns necessary, depending on the complexity of the church
4. Regular preparation of financial information based on actual income and expenditure, compared to budget and accurate projections for the end of year position
5. Timely preparation and submission of year end statutory accounts and Charity Commission returns

How can I get these financial management systems in place?

1. You may have a member of your congregation that has the necessary skills to do this work on a voluntary basis
2. You may need to recruit a member of staff to do some or all of this work and identify a member of your congregation that has the necessary skills to oversee this work on a voluntary basis (often this is the PCC Treasurer role)
3. You may need to outsource some or all of the work depending on how much the volunteer and/member of staff can do. For example, with modern accounting systems, such as Xero, Quickbooks or Sage, it is feasible for a non-accountant to do a lot of the detailed inputting and reconciling of transactions to produce management accounts and complete gift aid returns using Church Suite. It just needs a more experienced and professionally qualified person to help set up the chart of accounts and then review their work and do the more complicated pieces of work such as year-end statutory accounts and Charity Commission returns. This could be outsourced to an accountancy firm – maybe a firm that could also undertake the independent examination

Where can I get help

The following are offered in good faith as examples of the types of service that you may wish to explore along with others. Examples show the range of services provided from free advice; not-for-profit organisations, suppliers to the church world, suppliers to business, legal and law firms.

For the avoidance of doubt, The Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication (CCX) does not recommend these suppliers or service providers to you. It is important that you (church/parish) do your own research and satisfy your leadership/governing body (e.g. PCC, church trustees, leadership team) that any type of support service you intend to engage is a ‘good fit’ and can supply the relevant expertise for your specific needs within the budget available to you. You may wish to consider what your diocese can provide.