The complexities of church accounting
During 2021, the Church appointed a new treasurer and internal accounting staff. The Church has two registered entities with the Charity commission and this, combined with the range of activities that it offers and provides, results in much work for the accounting team.
One of the initial tasks back in 2021 was to review their processes and software support, to ensure that they were well placed to meet the relevant accounting requirements. For this reason, the Church looked for an accounting partner that could not only support them but also help guide them in their decision-making processes.
Solving the challenge of theological bookkeeping
After meeting several accountants, the Church appointed Dominic Hill as their accounting advisors and partners. Given the charity status, and amount of revenue being generated, the audit and assurance team at Dominic Hill immediately helped the treasurer and accounts team to review their accounts software package. A thorough review of their bookkeeping practices was undertaken which enabled the team to identify a clear pathway and strategy moving forward.
After the review, Dominic Hill recommended some changes to improve how Xero was being used, to help manage the day-to-day accounting of their financial transactions. The package integrates with other platforms and the time spent on manually entering transactions has reduced dramatically. The reporting has also been improved and now handles the various revenue streams across the different church activities more efficiently. Dominic Hill supported the church by training the accounts team to enable them to manage their ongoing daily accounting tasks themselves.
Dominic Hill continues to deliver annual accounting and independent examinations for the charities, as well as providing regular and ongoing advice on issues such as grants, gift aid and fund management.
Key results:
- Eliminated manual reporting
- Ability to create reports by activity
- Improved overall efficiencies and simplified and streamlined key accounting processes
- Additional advice received for grants, gift aid and fund management