Many churches fail to implement a well defined purchase approval and payment system
There is a great difference in attitude in the church environment between receipts and disbursements. While churches exercise extreme vigilance over the “inflow” of funds into the church, many have a rather cavalier attitude towards the “outflow”.
Churches also tend to rely on a few “fraud prevention” methods which in my opinion provide little more protection than a security blanket. They may give a warm and fuzzy feeling, but are no help in a real crisis. The two I hear most often are the requirement of dual signatures for checks over a predetermined amount and the requirement that a check request form be filled out before anyone gets paid. It is not uncommon for these to be the only two “fraud prevention” controls exercised over cash disbursements.
KEY: Churches that rely on methods this simple are unaware of two basic facts. First, dual signatures and homemade check requests are absolutely no match for an ethically challenged employee with the courage to forge. Second, and this may be the most surprising, many of the larger and more spectacular embezzlements involve tampering with the church’s cash outflow, not the inflow.
An important element of proper stewardship is to develop, implement and live by a well defined, written bill approval and payment process. Some key ingredients of such a plan:
A clear description of who will:
Approve bills
Receive goods
Validate invoice with purchase order and receiving documents
Prepare checks for payment
Sign checks
Mail bills
Record transactions in the general ledger
Use of pre-printed, sequentially numbered purchase orders, not check request forms that anyone can duplicate on a copy machine.
A vendor application and approval process culminating in an approved vendor list
Write checks and/or make drafts only to vendors on the list
Consider using a Positive Pay program in partnership with your bank.
