Accountability of Furniture and Equipment -   (3)

    This is often a low profile stewardship issue with many Ministries. But each Ministry should account for such assets for no other reason than contribute to complete insurance coverage.  Included in the links below are resources to help you accomplish this effort.

Fixed Assets and Land/Bldg/Equipment Issues    http://www.bcidot.org/all/0033-01.html
Fixed Assets Accountability     http://www.bcidot.org/all/0018-09.html
Fixed Assets as Memo Accounts    http://www.bcidot.org/all/0102-02.html

        Regular Periodic Insurance updates  (4):

     Below is a portion of our publication found at  0073  which our CPA firm used when we audited a client.  This might help you as we encourage you to regularly update your insurance coverage -- perhaps having what appears below in mind.

========================================================================     
                                    I N T E R – O F F I C E   ME M O R A N D U M ========================================================================= 

To:   Client’s Insurance Representative                              RE: Insurance Confirmation re:
Fr:  ____________________________                                   Client: ______________________
               CPA - Auditor
Year Ending ________________________________               Authorized by: ________________        

     This firm Is engaged in a routine examination of this client’s records and they are mailing this directly to you in one of their own envelopes at our request.  Please complete and return to us via the enclosed self addressed return envelope.
     As indicated above, they have authorized you to please provide the information below:

    Insurance Company                                                                       Approx Annual 
    & Policy Number                 Coverage                      From/To             Premium 

1>__________________  ________________________  ____________  _______________
2>__________________  ________________________  ____________  _______________
3> _________________   ________________________  ____________  _______________ 
4> _________________   ________________________  ____________  _______________
5> _________________   _______________________   _____________  _______________ 

    Do you have a record of Robbery and/or Fidelity Bond Coverage  YES ____ NO ___
    In your opinion, does the client have, to your knowledge, all
               of the necessary insurance coverage?                                 YES____  NO ___    

    Please Explain:  _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
 

Church and example of "Big Pix: (7) 

     I often recommend to Ministries their need for a one-page recap, or overview, of all of their finances.  Please note below the contents of a sample "Big Pix" report at a Church via an Excel doc with such purpose in mind.

                                                            XYZ  Church BIG PIX Sample
                                                            For Year to Date Period  -- May 1, xxx8 through October 31, xxx8

			Special	General	GPF Expenditure
			Funds	(GPF) Fund	Budget To Date	Variance
	Revenue:
$730,790	Donations		$78,485	$652,305
$2,438	Other		$2,438	$0
$733,228		Total	$80,923	$652,305
	Expenditures:
$330,528	Salaries/Benefits		$3,617	$326,911	$328,064	($1,153)
$244,595	Operating Expenses		$141,451	$103,144	$111,634	($8,490)
$53,444	Property Costs			$53,444	$46,563	$6,881
$72,784	Mission Support		$20,204	$52,580	$57,048	($4,468)
$15,904	Equipment		$7,611	$8,293	$9,900	($1,607)
($78,843)	Self Funding (Offsets)		($78,843)	$0
$85,450	Assessment for Building Fund		$0	$85,450	$85,448	$2
$0	Cross Funds		($29,246)	$29,246	$34,164	($4,918)
$723,862		Total	$64,794	$659,068	$672,821	($13,753)
$9,366			$16,129	($6,763)
					Annual Gen Budget of	$1,331,265
					Weekly Need	25,601
Beginning Bal			$91,180		GPF Income to date	$652,305
Ending Bal as computed			$107,309		Divided by weeks to date	26
"Spoken for" as follows:					Weekly average	$25,089
					Weekly difference	$512
	Board Discretionary		$37,377		Ending:
	Donor Restricted		$12,844		Bank Balances	$109,478
	Self Funding Projects		$2,886		Other Assets	$3,887
	Missions		$49,844		Less: Liabilities	$12,818
	Ministry Groups		$4,359		Down proof is:	$100,547
$100,547		Total Funds	$107,310	($6,763)	Cross proof is:	$100,547
			BUILDING FUND ACTIVITY
Balance forward 5/1/xxx6			$62,427		Paid Outs:
Receipts:					Family Center Addition	$5,321
	Giving  since 5/1/xxx6		$137,498		New Sanctuary	$135,518
	From General Fund-per Assessment above		$85,450			$140,839
	Loan proceeds		$2,340
			225,288
					Ending Balance	$239,667

          Click below for Potentially Helpful Online Links for JIMs JRNL Readers: (1)

Current "Ministry Finance" Truism: (2)

        Below is one of my Ministry Finance precepts/beliefs/principles, or  "rules of thumb".  Please go to  0069  for our complete TRUISMS list.

    DEPRECIATION   -  This is a GAAP required once-a-year accounting process for allocation of capitalized deferred costs related to Land, Building and Equipment (LB&E), or Fixed Assets.  Deprecation should NOT be budgeted for or show up in a Ministry's General Fund monthly OPERATIONS.   Please link to   0125  for more explanation and details.  Depreciation should NOT be confused with any voluntary assessment of OPERATIONS , or "SetASides",  for future LB&E purposes. Or for any budgeted expenditure for acquisition of any Equipment or Furniture by the General Fund.  Go to  0041  for more info on acquiring Fixed Assets.

             Prayerful Thots: (11)

     This "Blogger" like monthly endeavor (99) allows me to share some personal comments/thoughts as to Ministry Finance issues plus matters concerning Righteous Personal Finance for Christian people.  Please go to  0200  for further explanation and links to earlier JIM's JRNLs.  The four digit links  xxxx  herein come from www.bcidot.org sources. 
    If you would like to receive the next monthly JIM's JRNL during the first week of the subsequent month,  please join the following Yahoo Group:   ---- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JIMsJRNL/.    Caution --- the non  www.bcidot.org  web links that I reference herein do NOT necessarily imply my endorsement.  Further, if any of these links do not work, let us know which one at LINK@bcidot.org.  Lists of our  www.bcidot.org  articles (or Web Docs), can be found at 9712.  9716  and  9705.  

 Probable "Ministry Finance Lingo", or "Frequently Used Vocational Terms" used herein, appear below:

            BLVR =  Someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, CBA = Church Business Administrator, CBAer;  CMS = Church Management Software/System;  CPA = Certified Public Accountant;  GAAP = Generally Accepted Accounting Principles/Practices;  GPFund or GPF = General Purpose Fund; MFTeam or MFT= Ministry Finance Team;  QBOE = QuickBooks Online Edition;  QBooks or QB = Quickbooks; RPFin  = Righteous Personal Finance , SPFunds or SPFs = Special Purpose Funds

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Click Here and go to a list of earlier JIM's JRNLs - Contact JimRetCPA@bcidot.org

This document was updated last on:  May 24, 2007