It's a familiar story: someone steps into the treasurer or finance role, asks for the church's written accounting policies, and finds out there aren't any — just a set of informal habits carried in one or two people's heads. If that's you, you're not behind. You're just the first person in a while with a reason to write it down.
What a basic policy set should cover
- Approval authority. Who can authorize spending, and up to what dollar amount, before it needs a second signature or board approval?
- Reimbursement process. A clear submission deadline, required documentation (receipts), and a predictable payment timeline protects staff and volunteers as much as it protects the church.
- Contribution handling. How offerings are counted, by whom, and with what separation of duties — ideally never by one person alone.
- Bank reconciliation cadence. How often accounts are reconciled, and who reviews the reconciliation besides the person who prepared it.
- Recordkeeping. What gets documented for every transaction, and how long records are retained.
Where to start if you're building this from scratch
Start by documenting what actually happens today, even if it's informal — that's your baseline. From there, identify the biggest gaps, usually around approval limits and separation of duties, since those are the areas most likely to create disputes or expose the church to risk. Prioritize fixing those first, then bring the finished policy to the board for formal adoption so it has real authority behind it.
Why it's worth the effort
Written policies do two things a set of unwritten habits can't: they protect the people currently doing the work from ambiguity and second-guessing, and they let the next treasurer step in without starting from zero. A financial system that only exists in one person's memory is a risk every time that person is unavailable, and eventually, every church runs into that moment.