Church Administration Matters Greg Hickle Minnesota District Secretary/Treasurer Church Budgeting 101 Except that it has 6 letters many people seem to have the idea that BUDGET is a 4-letter word. Many pastors and / or church boards have a negative reaction to establishing a church budget. Some of the reasons given are: 1. We don t have anything to budget. What comes in goes out and that s the way it s always worked. 2. Budgeting is unspiritual and shows a lack of faith. 3. We can t accurately predict the income or the expenses of the church. 4. Budgets are so restrictive that you can t adjust if things change. THE TRUTH ABOUT BUDGETING The truth is that a budget is not only spiritual, but I believe essential to operate as good stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. We are called to be good stewards of all of our resources whether we have little or much. In fact, Jesus says in Luke 16: 10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.... This would lead us to believe that God will provide more to those who handle what they have well. Many people don t realize that a budget is simply a game plan with dollars attached to it. The first step in budgeting is to figure out what you want to accomplish and then put some dollar figures to arrive at an operating budget based on those plans. Examples of this would include: Hosting a family evangelistic outreach in September to start off the school year. Replacing the windows on the parsonage. Sharing a Christmas musical ministry with our community Participating in the local City Days activities in July. Beginning a ministry to new parents. Of course, we also must budget for the ordinary operating expenses of mortgage payments, utilities, curriculum needs, maintenance, salaries, office supplies, etc. A budget is not meant to be rigid, but can and often should, be adjusted as the year goes along based on any changes in the church s financial position (increased or decreased income; unexpected repairs; unanticipated opportunities for ministry; etc.). A budget is a tool that helps a church reach its financial goals and avoid the pitfalls of poor financial planning. We need to understand that the purpose of budgeting is not to restrict what you can do, but to ensure that the church is able to accomplish its goals and purposes.
Church Administration Matters Page 2 of 7 How Do We Start Step 1 [The following steps assume that the church has not had a budget before] Before you can realistically establish a church budget, you need to analyze past income and spending patterns and levels of the church. The simplest way to do this is to use the Annual Financial Report of the church to determine the annual levels of income and expenditures. However, the best way to do this is to review the past 2 3 years of income and spending on a month-by-month basis, as both income and spending are seldom even throughout the year. Most computerized accounting programs allow you to create a report like this. If you do not have a computerized program, it is easiest to use a spreadsheet program like Excel with columns for each month (including a total column) and rows for the various income and spending items. This analysis provides you with an income and spending history and trends (are they going up, down or staying about the same). This does not tell you what the budget should be, but it tells you what has happened financially over the last 2 3 years. What s Next Step 2 The church needs to establish its financial priorities, by identifying fixed and discretionary expenditures. Mandatory Expenditures (MEs) are spending that is required (even if the amount of spending can be controlled) and would include mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, office related, salaries, etc. Discretionary Expenditures (DEs) are spending areas that do not have to be spent and would include things like special outreaches, conferences, advertising, specific ministries, etc. Normally within MEs, the only truly fixed items are mortgage and / or loan payments. The amounts of all other MEs can be controlled to some extent. Utilities must be paid, but usage does increase or decrease the payment amount. The same is true for Office Supplies, Insurance (though to a lesser extent), Maintenance, etc. True MEs must be given the highest priority in the budget, as failure to pay those bills can result in a termination of the church s ministries. The second highest priority must be given to those MEs that can be controlled. As these categories are budgeted, it is appropriate to ask if there are any cost savings measures that can be employed without reducing ministry effectiveness. [EG: reviewing utility usage and billings can result in refunds and / or reductions in usage which save money phone companies often insert charges on phone bills that are not needed by the church, I know one church that recouped nearly $ 1,000 from these types
Church Administration Matters Page 3 of 7 of items!] --- periodically shopping service arrangements such as insurance, printing, office suppliers, etc. can result in cost savings --- etc. If there are funds left in the budget, the next step is to prioritize the DEs according to the ministries that the church believes the Lord wants them to conduct. It would be best to identify the various ministries that fit in this category first and then, assign each ministry a priority. Use questions like if we could only do one ministry, what would that be? if we could do one additional ministry, what would that be? In this way, you have established a financial priority for the funds that are available for ministry. Budget Expenditure Amounts Step 3 [For this budgeting process, I will assume that the church generally spends whatever comes in and does not have any substantial annual surplus. With that assumption, I recommend that a church budget its expenditures first and then compare that budget with what income might be expected for next year.] This step, which I somewhat addressed in Step 2, is crucial. This is where we develop a budget that is realistic or unrealistic. After we ve identified and prioritized our Mandatory Expenditures and Discretionary Expenditures, we must assign dollar values to those areas. The analysis that we conducted in Step 1 is our starting point. Unless we ve identified some practical ways to reduce the amount spent in a budget category, last year s actual expenditures is most likely the lowest number we can use for the current year budget. In fact, we must take inflation into consideration. The cost of living adjustment for the Metro area over the 4 years ending in 2005 averaged 2.4%, with a low of 1.3% (2003) and a high of 3.1% (2005 note both 2000 & 2001 were 4.2%). While an average can be a good general inflation rate, specific items like natural gas, electric can deviate significantly from the average. So it is best use a recent average for the general expenditures, while trying to use more specific estimates for others (utility companies typically publish expected inflation rates each year). Once this initial budget is developed, I recommend that it be compared to the current year s budget and the current year s actual to date. This step may identify some areas that need further consideration before moving onto the next step. Budget Income Amounts Step 4 Once the preliminary Expenditures Budget is completed it must be compared to last year s actual income figures as a way to determine reasonableness. First, we need to take into consideration any unusual income items (EG: a tithe / gift from insurance proceeds, tithe / gift from the sale of an asset, etc.) that may not be recurring. [Note it is hard to rely on these unusual (perhaps one time) gifts from one year to the next,
Church Administration Matters Page 4 of 7 however it does seem that somehow or another the Lord does use them each year to assist churches in meeting their financial budget.] Once you ve decided how to handle any unusual giving, we should determine if we can expect an increase over the previous year. This increase could come by virtue of inflation and / or an increase in attendance. It is important to not we starry eyed when we do this, but that we also operate on a basis of faith in God s provision. Certainly, there could be times when income might be expected to decrease, such as families moving out of the area, etc. Whatever kind of change is determined, it should be applied to the current year s income on a month-by-month basis to determine an Expected Income figure. Next, we need to compare the expected income with budgeted expenditures on a monthly and annual basis. This will identify if the total expected income of the church is sufficient to do everything that we budgeted for in Step 3. There are 3 possibilities at this point: The two figures are identical --- this is highly unlikely, but it is possible that they are very close in amount. If the difference is not significant, you re done! Though as we monitor the budget throughout the year we may need to adjust things as we go along. The Expected Income is much higher than the Budgeted Expenditures --- this may also seem to be highly unlikely, but if it does occur we need to address it. An excess of income over expenditures does not mean that we should just build a savings account (though there may be times when that is appropriate). In this situation, we need to ask the question what would God have us to do with this surplus? Perhaps there are more ministry opportunities that He would have us conduct or we are to increase our missions support or we are to apply extra payments towards the principal of a mortgage etc. Once you re sure what God wants you to do do it! The Budgeted Expenditures are much higher than the Expected Income --- it seems to me that if we are dreaming big about ministry we just might have budgeted expenditures that exceed expected income. In fact, I would hope that this happens!
Church Administration Matters Page 5 of 7 However, now we have to use the priorities we established in Step 2 to determine which budget categories should be reduced or eliminated to bring the expenditures in line with the expected income without adversely affecting the ministries of the church. While this can be challenging, the Lord can help us to accomplish it if we ask Him for His wisdom. Managing the Budget I Step 5 This is the most critical part of the entire concept of budgeting. All too often I ve worked with people that manage their budget by looking at what they spent last month. Of course this is valid, but it is not so much managing a budget as monitoring it how did we do against how we hoped to do? While this step must be done there is more that we can do. Managing a budget effectively requires that decisions on spending be made by reviewing the budget category before making the decision. This can be done by identifying which categories are struggling to stay within their budgets. There are a couple of ways to do this: 1. If a budget area is slightly higher than budgeted as individual expenditures come up, they should be compared to the Y-T-D budget and the budget for the remainder of the year. The question to be answered is Does this conform to our expectations or is it outside them? If there is a valid ministry / business reason to go ahead with an expenditure even when it is outside our expectations, then the correct answer is we must make adjustments in other areas to allow for this expenditure. 2. If a budget area is seriously higher than budgeted adjustments of the budget must be considered. The question to be answered is Where can we reduce our expenditures to bring this area back into line with the budget? There are times when significant adjustments must be made. 3. If a budget area is lower than budgeted many would think this is a great position to be in. However, there are times when this is a warning signal that cannot be ignored. What does it mean when a budget area is lower than anticipated? It means one or a combination of a couple of things: a. The budget was incorrect and we will actually spend less than anticipated! This is a great place to be, but I ve found it doesn t happen all that often!?! b. We are missing a bill or a bill hasn t been paid when it was due. This can happen when cash flow is tight as most church financial reports are on a cash basis. This can actually be a danger signal! When you are experiencing tight cash flow, it is important to review unpaid invoices / bills to determine the extent of the problem.
Church Administration Matters Page 6 of 7 Sometimes, it means we weren t billed by the vendor in a timely fashion or the bill was misplaced. Either way it can identify something that needs attention. [I recently heard of a church that didn t receive its utility bill for several months they were wise enough to put money aside each month, so that when a huge bill for several months finally arrived they had the money to pay it without breaking the bank. c. We have paid all the bills, but some aspect of ministry that we had budgeted has not or is not happening. This can actually be a great concern. We are not ministering as we wanted to WHY? Often times there are good reasons, but sometimes this can identify that we are not being effective in fulfilling our vision for ministry. Whatever the reason, we need to investigate the reason and make sure it isn t a warning sign or if it is a warning sign, do something to address the situation. Managing the Budget II Step 6 The following are practical ideas that you can use to manage the budget on a proactive basis. 1. Use set-asides. Every budget has items that are paid on a periodic basis rather than on a monthly basis. It is wise to spread these items out over the course of the period they cover (EG: 24 months for a biennial expense General Council; 3 months for a quarterly insurance premium; etc.) Then each month actually take the monthly amount and transfer it out of the checking account into an interest bearing account (savings or money market accounts are good). Then when the item is due to be paid, transfer the money back into the checking account and write the checks. This will help level off your cash flow requirements. 2. Use budgets for utilities. Most utilities will let you pay a budgeted amount each month so that the highs and lows of the year are smoothed out. This approach will help your cash flow in a similar manner to the set-asides discussed above. Caution: Utilities are not always the best at setting the budget amounts, so you should review their figures for reasonableness. 3. Keep financial records in order and up-to-date. It is important to have accurate financial records, so the use of a computerized accounting system is very beneficial. Most of these systems include a budget feature that will assist you in creating and
Church Administration Matters Page 7 of 7 managing your budget. In addition, a system of checks and balances in the handling of money and in doing the accounting is essential. We all have very busy schedules so there can be a temptation to update financial records only when needed (i.e.: just before a Board meeting). I have found that keeping them up-todate each week not only improves accuracy, but in the long-run it will actually reduce the amount of time spent updating the records. It is essential to balance the checkbook each month on a timely basis. It is best if someone other than the bookkeeper / accountant reconciles the bank statement. At the very least, the reconciliations should be reviewed by an independent person to make sure that the records are in proper order. 4. If there is a problem, get help now. I have worked with people who are embarrassed to get help and so the problem just keeps getting larger and larger. If the records get out of balance somehow and that does happen enlist the assistance of someone immediately. Often times the problem is fairly simple if it is dealt with right away, but it gets much harder if the problem is allowed to continue for some time. In fact, sometimes just a fresh set of eyes on the records can result in someone seeing the problem quickly. Mark Ericson or I would be happy to work with you on what system to use or on figuring out a problem. I recently read the Top Five Budgeting Mistakes by Richard Vargo and thought they might be helpful to you: 1. Not allowing enough time to prepare the budget; 2. Not being specific enough about the expenditures; 3. Not purchasing quality, reliable equipment; 4. Not having realistic expectations; and 5. Not proving the need to spend more money. Budgeting is not a science, but more of an art, so the use of common sense in developing a budget is important. The old adage If it looks too good to be true, it probably is applies well to budgeting. I believe the benefits of budgeting are so great that you will be glad you took the time and effort to do this. Remember if you have questions, Mark Ericson and I are more than happy to be of assistance.