Church fund accounting: records to prepare with your bookkeeper
By The Church Krew Team · April 28, 2026 · 3 min read
Updated
Church fund accounting involves more than assigning a label to a donation. The people responsible for the books need a reliable way to track transactions, understand restrictions and explain how records relate to financial reports. Software can support that work, but it does not determine every accounting judgment.
Use this guide to prepare a conversation with your church’s bookkeeper or accountant. The reporting requirements that apply to a particular church should be reviewed by its qualified adviser.
Document your funds and restrictions
Write down the purpose of each fund, who can use it and who approves changes. Keep the original information that explains a donor’s designation or any restriction. Avoid creating multiple nearly identical funds just because different staff use different names.
The FASB guidance for not-for-profit financial statement presentation includes net assets with and without donor restrictions. A label in church software does not, by itself, settle how a particular transaction should be classified. Review those decisions with the person responsible for the financial statements.
Keep giving records and ledger work connected
A giving record identifies the gift and donor; a ledger records the accounting entries needed for the books. Decide how your team moves from one to the other and who checks that the amounts agree. Keep payment charges, refunds and bank timing visible rather than assuming the donation amount equals the deposit.
In Church Krew, giving tools belong to the free core and fund accounting is an optional paid product. Choose the ledger workflow deliberately. A church using an external bookkeeping system should review the required exports and reconciliation process before changing its software.
Agree on a repeatable close
Choose a regular review period. Reconcile payment-provider activity and bank deposits, review exceptions, and document corrections. Have a second authorized person review the result when your church’s controls call for it.
Retain the records supporting a correction and avoid silently rewriting history to make totals match. Define who can enter, review and approve financial changes. Access should follow the work a person is assigned to do.
Test the reports before moving the books
Bring representative examples to your bookkeeper: a normal gift, a designated gift, a refund and a payment whose settlement crosses a reporting period. Check how each appears in your records and reports.
Compare opening balances and the totals for an agreed period before relying on a new ledger. Review the actual reports your leadership or accountant needs. A claim about accounting software is not a substitute for confirming that your chart, entries and reports are configured appropriately.
Keep the review practical
Prepare a fund list, a record of who approves changes, a reconciliation checklist and the reports you need at the end of each period. These documents make it easier to evaluate both the software and the responsibilities around it.
Ask for advice about accounting requirements that apply to your church. Church Krew can help explain product behavior and exports; your financial adviser should guide the church’s accounting policies and reporting decisions.