Читать книгу Removing the Mysteries about Church Finance - Jerry L. Johnson - Страница 15

1. Three ways to understand money

2. How to figure margin

3. Difference between finance and accounting

4. How to compute breakeven, and why it is important

As a basic point, in the American tax structure the main difference between a non-profit organization and a for-profit organization is the non-profit does not pay tax. For the previous ten years or more, this church had been paying taxes: sales and excise tax. It went unnoticed.

I started contacting various vendors about the sales tax they had collected from the church. A couple of vendors quickly reversed what they were doing and gave the church a small refund. The biggest offender was the electric power company and one of the telephone services the church used. I contacted them by phone and fax (they required a fax) requesting our tax status be reviewed and a refund paid. The power company had been charging tax since forever, even though the church was listed as a 501(c)(3)1. This was one of those “God looks out for you” kinds of things. I estimated they owed the church over $25,000 but could not provide documentation that many years back, and they could not document it either. They agreed they owed the church well over $10,000, enough to take care of the electric bill for three months during the summer when giving was at a low point. The telephone company came up with a refund over $500.

When I took this bit of news to the congregation on Wednesday night, they were elated. Their hearts lifted. There was hope. The amount sounded like it was a lot bigger than it was, but it was enough to inspire. After all, who gets money back from the power company? It was bigger than it sounded, and I will show you how that was so.

Here’s one of the examples where working together, we turned nickels into quarters and more. When God says he will multiply, that is not a throwaway line.

Don’t put limits on what he can do. Just take what Jesus told the multitudes in Matthew 13:8 "But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold."

A hundredfold increase; now that’s an increase! The first thing is believing it is possible. Belief is not a passive concept, however, so believing a hundredfold increase is possible while sitting on your hands seems to be contradictory. Before I tell you the rest of the story, it’s time for another lesson on money.

Three Aspects of Money

People are always asking, “Well, where DID the money go?” It can be a mystery if you don’t have the answer, like where did all the time go? There are three aspects of money whether the money goes into a church or into Ford Motor Company: Accounting, Finance, and Economics. Each has to do with the use of money, in different but complimentary ways. A church cannot make proper use of the contributions it receives if the church leaders are unaware of this.

Accounting

It does what the name implies, provides an accounting for when, how and from where the money comes. It is also a record of how it is spent. Picture putting the money into various buckets when it is received; for example, a bucket could be named tithes, missions, or love offering. The church may have other designated offerings, such as building fund or parking lot fund. If the money is intended for a specific purpose, the business office must ensure the money goes into that bucket. Label the buckets clearly because when the buckets are lined up, at a certain angle, buckets all look alike.

You must also define which bucket the money comes out of when money is spent (or committed). Church members need to be kept informed that their tithes are what pays the operating bills, electricity, water, salaries; the normal monthly expenses. Operating expenses should not be paid from any other source. However, if a particular church decides to pay operating expenses from a different source, such as interest on investments or donations for that purpose, be consistent and manage the funds openly.

The following diagram will help explain how to decide the correct way to characterize the funds. The church accounting software will channel entries to the right account providing it is set up correctly.