Local churches normally have extremely tight staffing. This is not news to anyone.
Small churches and small parachurch ministries usually can get the bank reconciliations completed, do so accurately, and usually finish on a timely basis. I won’t go into detail on how to prepare a bank rec because I think everyone has that nailed.
Let’s take a moment to discuss the best practice for bank reconciliations. Then we’ll look at the reality and what could be done to improve controls.
The cartoon on bank reconciliations is based on these comments in the book:
Southside Community Church
Both churches were looking for a bookkeeper at the same time. The leadership at Southside Community Church was pleased to get an experienced bookkeeper on board quickly.
Her life journey had been rough—lots of emotional scars. She was relieved during the interview when the church did not dwell on the details about her life B.C.—you know, before Christ. She was a relatively young Christian. She did not know a lot about the Bible, but she knew she had been forgiven much and she was grateful much. She was absorbing everything she could.
A cartoon that discusses some internal controls over bank reconciliations in a local church:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KLiK8vNDYs]
The cartoon is based on the book Once Upon Internal Control – A tale of good and bad ways to implement internal controls in a local church, written by James Ulvog, CPA.
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