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Parish Accounting

The Finance & Administration Council has agreed to the proposal that the Diocesan Administration Centre provide an Accounting Service for those Parochial Units who wish to transfer the operations and reporting of their finances to the Diocese.

The Service commenced in 2006 based on the very successful package used and developed by the Diocese of Waiapu and will provide monthly reports, payment of accounts and payroll services. The cost of the Service will be evaluated after the trial period of 2006


GUIDELINES FOR THE PARISH ACCOUNTING SERVICE




  1. Parish Vestries and Church Wardens retain control of, and responsibility for, the Financial Statements and the viability of the Parish in accordance with Diocesan Canon I, Clause 4.


  2. The Parish gives approval for all payments, including Automatic transfers, and the Parish Accounting Service make payments in accordance with that authority.


  3. The Parish Accounting Service will pay Creditors, provide Monthly Reports for Vestry, and prepare the Annual Financial Statements.


  4. Automatic transactions, such as the payment of Vicars hospitality, Anglican Missions Board, Parish Assessments and Insurance will be made monthly by the Diocesan system and charged to each parish.
    The Parish authorises at the commencement of each financial cycle their approval to the amount to be charged, and the transactions are updated within the Financial Statements on due date.
    All income as recorded by the Parish is forwarded directly into the Parish Accounting Scheme Bank Account at the BNZ Bank, Hamilton. Each Parish has an identifying number coded into the Deposit Book to indicate which Parish banked the funds.


  5. Each Parish will maintain an Imprest Bank Account for small regular payments, and this will be reconciled to the Parish Accounting Scheme each month, so that transactions can be incorporated into the Financial Statements. We suggest this would be your existing bank account.


  6. Interest is paid on the credit funds maintained in the Bank Account, and calculated on a monthly basis. Where by arrangement a Parish is in overdraft within the Parish Accounting Service, interest is charged to cover the amount of the advance. Interest is earned by the Scheme by investing the daily surplus of all funds in the Waikato Board of Diocesan Trustees Call Account, and by advancing funds to overdrawn Parishes.


  7. As most Parishes receive interest on their surplus funds, the overall savings to Parishes is significant. As funds are "On Call", there is no need to separately invest amounts, unless by transfer to an Account within the Waikato Board of Diocesan Trustees which is done by the Diocesan office.


  8. An Annual Audit is carried out by the Diocesan Auditor, and your Parish accounts will be included in this audit. The fee for this will be covered by the fee level set after the trial period. The audit is carried out in the Diocesan Office, supplemented by a Parish questionnaire to review internal controls within the Parish.


  9. GST Returns are processed through the Parish Accounting Scheme, so there is no need for separate registration or preparation and lodgment of Returns.


  10. Secretarial and casual staff can also be paid monthly through the Parish Accounting Scheme. This would include deducting PAYE and the annual payment of ACC Levies.



HOW TO JOIN THE PARISH ACCOUNTING SERVICE




  1. Advise the Diocesan Finance Manager of the intention of Vestry to use the Service.


  2. Arrange for an Audit of Parish Accounts for the year prior to change over. Often the best time to start is at the commencement of a new Financial Year.


  3. If the Parish has an overdraft facility this may need to be negotiated with the Diocese to take the deficit over, or to arrange a Parish loan to clear the amount outstanding.


  4. Cancellation of any existing Parish GST Registration will be arranged by the Administration Centre in conjunction with Vestry.


  5. As soon as the Diocese is aware that a Parish wishes to join the Service they will order Deposit Books so that the Parish will have these on hand in time to commence the new Service. The Diocese will arrange for training of the staff involved, so that they may adapt to the new Service without any difficulty.


  6. Meetings will be arranged between Diocesan personnel and the Wardens, Treasurer and Parish Secretary to assist new Users through the system in the first few months.



Please remember that the Parish Accounting Service is there to assist the Parish in meeting its financial reporting obligations, and to improve accountability to the Diocese and to Parishioners.

Diocesan Website



The Diocesan website will be an important tool for you in the Parish Accounting Service as all the forms and manuals will be available there. We hope that you will also be able to download your reports once they have been completed by the accounting team.

You will need a password to access your files, this will be sent to you as soon as the system is operational.