Good Shepherd Bookkeeping Solutions

Good Shepherd Bookkeeping Solutions Bookkeeping, payroll, and financial guidance for churches and ministries. We help ministry leaders build clear reports, stronger systems, and wise stewardship.

09/01/2026

Financial complexity is not always about how much money a church handles. It is often about how the systems are built.

We’ve seen churches managing under $200,000 a year spend a surprising amount of time on bookkeeping.

The volume itself may be pretty manageable, but inefficient systems can turn simple bookkeeping into a much bigger job.

Maybe giving is tracked on paper or comes in through several places like Zelle and Venmo, which can make it harder to identify the donor, purpose, and correct accounting treatment.

Maybe designated funds are spread across several bank accounts because the chart of accounts was never set up to track them clearly. That means more reconciliations, more transfers, and more opportunities for confusion.

We also work with churches and ministries managing $1.5 million to $3 million a year that have much more financial activity, but their bookkeeping can still feel very manageable.

The difference is often the systems.

Good systems make it easier to keep the books accurate and give leadership a much clearer picture of where the church stands financially.

They save time, but more importantly, they create consistency and financial clarity.

Sometimes the main issue is not how much financial activity your church has. It is whether your systems are helping you manage it well.

08/27/2026

Your church does not need a bigger budget to become better at stewardship.

It can be easy to look at financial challenges and think, “If giving increased, this would be a lot easier.”

And of course, increased generosity can create more opportunities for ministry and relieve some of the stress that comes when finances feel tight. But more money does not automatically solve the underlying financial problems many churches are already dealing with, like spending without a clear plan or not having a reliable picture of where the church actually stands financially.

Sometimes, the biggest improvements come from being more intentional with what you already have.

That might mean building a budget that actually reflects your church’s priorities or creating a regular process for reviewing spending before problems start to pile up.

Good stewardship is about how wisely you manage what has already been entrusted to you.

Gift cards are an easy way to thank employees, but one thing churches need to know is that the IRS generally treats gift...
08/25/2026

Gift cards are an easy way to thank employees, but one thing churches need to know is that the IRS generally treats gift cards given to employees like cash. Even a small gift card is generally considered taxable compensation.

So if your church hands out gift cards, keep track of who received them, how much each person received, and when they were given. Then make sure that information gets to whoever handles your payroll so it can be reported correctly.

The exact payroll treatment can be a little different for ministers, so that’s another reason to make sure your payroll provider or tax professional has the details.

This is a pretty simple thing to track when the gift cards are handed out. It becomes much harder when someone is trying to reconstruct the list several months later at year-end.

Church budget season will be here before you know it.One simple way to make the process easier: don’t start with a blank...
08/19/2026

Church budget season will be here before you know it.

One simple way to make the process easier: don’t start with a blank spreadsheet. Start with last year’s actual numbers.

Look at what your church actually spent by ministry or category, then ask:

• What will stay about the same?
• What costs are increasing?
• What expenses were one-time purchases?
• What new ministry plans need to be included?

Your actual financial history gives you a much stronger starting point than guessing what next year “should” look like.

We put together a step-by-step church budgeting guide with more practical tips for building a budget your church can actually use:

https://goodshepherdbookkeeping.com/2025/09/26/church-budgeting-guide/

This is why we do what we do. Helping church leaders spend less time worrying about the books and more time focused on m...
08/13/2026

This is why we do what we do.

Helping church leaders spend less time worrying about the books and more time focused on ministry.

We’re grateful for the trust our clients place in our team!

What are the biggest church giving trends to watch right now?We pulled five findings from the 2026 Giving in Faith Repor...
08/12/2026

What are the biggest church giving trends to watch right now?

We pulled five findings from the 2026 Giving in Faith Report that stood out to us, including donor consistency, recurring giving, financial pressure, and church leaders’ expectations for the year ahead.

Swipe through for the numbers.

Source: 2026 Giving in Faith Report, Givelify Philanthropic Research & Insights. Check out the research here: https://www.givelify.com/giving-in-faith/

08/10/2026

During a recent onboarding with a new church client, we were reminded how important good financial systems really are.

Their bookkeeper and treasurer had both left unexpectedly. Their departure exposed how much of the church’s financial process depended on personal memory, individual inboxes, and informal systems.

Passwords, logins, processes, and historical context were tied to one or two people. When they left, the church was left trying to piece everything together.

This is why documentation matters.

Churches should have written processes for key financial tasks, shared access where appropriate, and a clear plan for who can step in when someone is unavailable.

Good financial systems should not depend entirely on one person’s memory, inbox, or password list.

08/06/2026

Tip for churches: Monthly financial reports should go through a real quality check before they are shared with leadership.

At Good Shepherd, this is one of the principles we build our bookkeeping process around. Since 2019, our team has delivered over 3,000 board-ready financial reports for church and ministry leaders, and one thing we’ve learned is this: reports are more useful when they are reviewed, not just produced.

A good review process looks for things like:

• Unusual income or expense activity.
• Missing or uncategorized transactions.
• Old uncleared checks or deposits.
• Credit card balances that do not look right.
• Payroll or liability balances that need attention.
• Restricted or designated fund balances that may be negative or unclear.
• Large budget variances that need explanation.

The goal is to make sure the numbers leadership sees have been checked carefully enough to support good decisions.

Before reports go to the board or finance team, ask: would these numbers make sense to someone who was not in the bookkeeping file all month? That one question can improve the quality of the reports you share.

08/03/2026

Tip for churches: Before adding a new account to your Chart of Accounts, ask what report it is supposed to improve.

This usually happens one reasonable decision at a time. The church has a new event, so someone creates an account for it, or a donor gives toward a specific need, so someone creates a separate line.

Each decision may make sense in the moment. But over time, the reports can get harder to read.

A good question is: will this account help leadership make a better decision, or will it just make the report longer?

If no one will budget for it, review it, or act on it, it may not need to be its own account.

07/29/2026

Before the board passes a new financial policy, it’s always a good idea to talk to the people who actually have to live with it.

Take reimbursements, for example. The board might decide the church needs tighter rules because receipts are missing, tracking expenses is a nightmare, and leadership wants better accountability. That’s a completely fair and necessary goal.

But the team managing the day-to-day work will immediately see the practical roadblocks. What happens when a volunteer loses a receipt? Who signs off on each ministry's spending? How long will people have to wait to get their money back? And what does the bookkeeper actually need to keep the records clean?

Without those answers, a policy is just a piece of paper that leaves your staff and volunteers guessing.

In our latest article, we look at why solid financial decisions stall out in the real world—and how church leaders can bridge the gap between the boardroom vote and ministry reality.

Read the full post here: https://goodshepherdbookkeeping.com/2026/07/14/church-financial-decisions-ministry-reality/

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