Transitioning record-keeping

by Don Wilson
(Birmingham, AL)

This is such a helpful site. Thank you so much. Exactly what I’ve been looking for.

I’ve just joined the board of my small church (+/- 75 attendees) and found that financial records are in disarray. It is the typical problem of laymen (like me) doing their best to keep the records but having no idea of the concepts of accounting.

My question is this: What problems are involved in transitioning the entirely messed up records to a proper accounting system. I hold a business degree from decades ago that I have never used, so I’ve studied accounting but am far from experienced at using it. I am currently studying hard to understand the proper way to account for our church finances. Planning to download your book in a few minutes. But I’m concerned about the possibility of not transitioning the records properly into a more correct system; that we might run into problems with gov’t entities if we do it wrong. Does your book cover that? Is there any quick guidance you can give me or steer me to?

Again, thanks so much for your site.