Financial Reporting Practices to Streamline Meetings
A common pattern for vestries has the group spending a fair percentage of meeting time in going over the financial reports of the congregation. While oversight of the finances is critical, spending more time in meetings discussing the report may not make for better oversight. I suggest three changes to how and when your congregation reports on its finances that can improve the quality of vestry discussion of the church’s revenue and expenses.
The first is simply to time the vestry meetings so that every member can receive the previous month’s statement one week before the meeting. Then add the expectation that any questions about the statement will be addressed to the treasurer in the week prior to the meeting. This means that you won’t need to waste time asking why insurance expenses are down only to discover that this is paid quarterly and the report is merely reflecting that the May statement shows five months budgeted and only the one quarterly payment made. It looks like the expense is down, but the next month’s report will show insurance exactly in line with the budget. This is easily cleared up in advance and need not sidetrack the vestries larger work with the picture of the congregation’s financial health.
The remaining two suggestions are based on getting monthly financial reporting in line with the lived experience of running the church. Rather than budgeting a total number for every line item and then dividing by twelve to create the monthly reports, use knowledge of when the revenue is anticipated and expenses are due in creating the monthly reports.
For example, the reports can show $0 for insurance in January and February and then $867.36 for March if your quarterly insurance payment is due that month. By taking the few line items which spend in such predictable ways and reflecting that knowledge in the reports, you will give a clearer picture of where expenses stand year to date in any given month. It is not necessary to spend a lot of time on this as it will only matter for large line item expenses which follow a pattern other than spending 1/12 each month. This is a relatively quick fix to make your expense budget more transparent.
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Likewise, churches have predictable patterns of revenue which can enter into the calculations. Prior to seminary, I served on the vestry of St. Peter’s Church in Rome, Georgia. That church, like most congregations found a predictable pattern of lower giving in the summer and a larger amount coming in each December, nearly double most of the months of the year. A previous vestry member had analyzed five years worth of monthly revenue reports and discovered a predictable trend. This was used to generate a monthly target figure based on that pattern of giving. This kept the vestry less anxious in the summer (as long as we held to previous summer experiences and didn’t do worse). It also meant that we could communicate with the members directly about the need to give at the year end as they had in previous years.
Whether you follow these suggestions or not, vestry members should try to find ways to encourage their conversations away from the details of the budget when meeting together and to keep on the big picture. The more time spent on each tree, the less time there will be to manage the forest. The goal of the clergy and vestry should be to always be able to keep the bigger picture in view in when providing oversight to a very detailed task.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary
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