ECCU Blog

This is the third in our series of email interviews with presenters for the upcoming 2012 Financial Forum for Ministries.

David Lee is a ministry development officer with ECCU. He will speak at all four forums about how to evaluate your ministry’s mission/money alignment and adjust spending to improve it. Here are David’s responses to my questions.

MBG: How will your presentation help attendees better serve their ministries?

David: Misaligned ministries, like cars with wheels out of alignment, can develop serious problems if the alignment problem is not corrected quickly. This presentation will challenge attendees to evaluate their current alignment and suggest possible solutions for issues of misalignment. The goal is to uncover not only the best practices of ministries that seem to have true alignment between their mission and money, but more importantly, to learn from mistakes ministries have made and identify the appropriate corrective action. 

MBG: What are three important takeaways attendees will learn during your presentation?

David: First, we’ll identify the risks and factors that contribute to misalignment of a ministry’s money and mission. Then we’ll talk about how to determine whether your ministry’s money is aligned with its mission. Finally, we’ll discuss methods for adjusting ministry budgets and spending priorities to improve alignment.                                            

MBG: How will the format of the forum make it an even more valuable learning experience?

David: In addition to focusing on the learning objectives I just listed, we’ll incorporate testimonials and examples from various ministries that have experienced misalignment of their mission and money.  

Next up will be Gary Hoag, the “Generosity Monk,” who will be presenting on executing your stewardship responsibilities as a leader and encouraging others to generously participate in your ministry despite tough times.

Follow this link to learn more and sign up for the financial forum in your area.

This is the second in our series of email interviews with presenters for the upcoming 2012 Financial Forum for Ministries.

John Butler is an attorney and tax counsel for CapinCrouse LLP. He will speak at each of the three 2012 California forums about recent Internal Revenue Service, congressional, and court benefits; ministers’ payroll and unrelated business income; as well as health care compliance issues. Here are John’s responses to my questions.

MBG: How will your presentation help attendees better serve their ministries?

John: We live and our ministries serve in a dynamic environment where tax laws can have a major impact on operations. At least some of yesterday’s solutions won’t work tomorrow. This session will help attendees identify the areas they must examine to assess where in their organizations they need to make changes.

MBG: What are three important takeaways attendees will learn during your presentation?

John: The changing tax laws affecting health care issues are critical for all ministries. One takeaway will be that attendees can identify key elements affecting their ministries. A second takeaway will be information that’s helpful when developing a compliance strategy for their ministries related to the health care law changes. The third takeaway will be more general. As critical and recent issues are addressed, attendees will be able to assess which ones apply to their organizations.                                         

MBG: How will the format of the forum make it an even more valuable learning experience?

John: This session is content oriented, so a formal presentation and the detailed outline will contribute substantially to the experience. The opportunity to ask questions will help attendees firmly grasp the concepts presented.

Next up will be David Lee, ministry development officer with ECCU, who will be presenting on how to evaluate your ministry’s mission/money alignment and adjust spending to improve it.

Follow this link to learn more and sign up for the financial forum in your area.

During a recent ECCU budgeting webinar for ministries with up to $2 million in revenues, we asked attendees which accounting package they used. Two thirds said QuickBooks.                                                                                            

It has been my experience that many QuickBooks users don’t fully utilize its functionality. If this is true of you, here are several tips that may prove helpful as you go through the budgeting process.

First, make sure you have a good chart of accounts. Keep it simple and relevant. Use categories that can be applied across ministry and operational areas. Also, create a structure that allows you to condense various line items into a summary category when reporting to your leadership or board. An example of this would be the summary category called “program expense,” which would contain a number of lower-level line items, as shown in the lower left of this screen shot.

Next, identify the distinct ministry and operational areas that will constitute your classes. You will use these classes to structure your budget and prepare budget-to-actual reports each month. Don’t go overboard here, but create enough classes so you can produce meaningful reports for each area, like this:

Finally, create your budget using the set up budgets feature. Now you can begin using your chart of accounts and class structure to document the budget. After you’ve completed all the ministry areas, you can run an organizational report that presents the budget based on your chart of accounts and areas (classes) with totals for the entire ministry. You can also run budget-to-actual reports for specific ministries.

If you’d like more budgeting guidance, check out our Budgeting 101  webinar recording and additional resources, including additional tips for QuickBooks users.

Besides someone who attended a past Financial Forum for Ministries, presenters for the upcoming forum are in the best position to tell you what to expect. So I asked them. Actually, I emailed three questions to each presenter for the 2012 forum. We’ll publish their responses over the next few weeks.

First up is John Thornton, professor and Leung Chair of Accounting Ethics at Azusa Pacific University. He will speak at each of the four 2012 forums about the impact of ethics on accounting. Here are John’s responses.

MBG: How will your presentation help attendees better serve their ministries?

John: In Christian ministries, where trust is a premium, it is easy to drop your professional skepticism and become lax about accountability. Even the best organizations with the best leaders are susceptible to deception related to wealth. Consider Judas, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples and overseer of their funds. He not only liked to dip into the bag for his own benefit, but ultimately chose money over God, selling out Jesus for financial gain. We will look honestly at the challenges and importance of accountability.

MBG: What are three important takeaways attendees will learn during your presentation?

John: Attendees will gain a historical perspective on the financial misdeeds done in God’s name. We will look at how to recognize potential ethical dilemmas in your own organization, learn basic approaches to resolve them, and discern how to choose the best alternative. Finally, attendees will learn how our faith in a just God gives us the moral courage to do the right thing, even at great personal cost.

MBG: How will the format of the forum make it an even more valuable learning experience?

John: In this interactive presentation, we will learn together from the experiences of our peers as we consider best practices in financial accountability. This rich context and interaction goes beyond what you learn by reading a textbook.

Next up will be John Butler, attorney and tax counsel with CapinCrouse LLP, who will be presenting on current legislative and tax issues affecting ministries.

Follow this link to learn more and sign up for the financial forum in your area.

Have you attended a Financial Forum for Ministries in the past? If so, you’ve experienced the benefits of this unique event. With the 2012 forums fast approaching, I asked Jeremy Moser, who has attended the past couple of years, a few questions about why it’s a good investment of time. Jeremy is the CFO at Mariners Church in Irvine, California. Here’s what he had to say.

Jeremy, you’ve signed up again for this year’s forum. Why?

It’s because the information that’s presented helps me do my job better at Mariners. I’m a learner and am always looking to improve how we do things. So the information provided at the forum tends to add value to my church. 

Talk about the format of the forums. How does it add value to this particular learning opportunity?

The forums cover several topics each year. The diversity of information has been great.  It is also great to network with other ministry leaders during the event.

What’s one reason you’d recommend that others attend the Financial Forum for Ministries?

I recommend this forum to other ministry leaders because just picking up one idea can make their ministries more effective. That means the time spent is well worth it.

How can someone who attends make the most of the experience?

Come expecting to learn. It is a lot of information to absorb, so take notes and review the information at least one time (within a week) after the event. Make action items for yourself so you know what to implement when you go back to the office. Another thing I recommend is making at least one new contact at the event. I frequently contact other ministries throughout the year, asking for advice on topics I think they may have expertise in.

Have you attended past financial forums? What was your experience?

Follow this link to learn more and sign up for the financial forum in your area.