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Financial Procedures

Welcome to the Financial section of the Ward Clerk Knowledge Base. This section provides comprehensive guidance for ward financial clerks on budgets, expenses, donations, audits, and financial compliance.

Overview

Financial clerks play a critical role in ensuring the proper stewardship of sacred funds. This section provides detailed procedures, common pitfalls to avoid, and best practices for managing ward finances in compliance with Church policies.

Key Responsibilities

Budget Management

  • Budget Preparation - Annual budget planning and approval

  • Monthly budget monitoring

  • Budget adjustments and reallocations

Expense Management

  • Handling Expenses - Reimbursement procedures and documentation

  • Receipt requirements and validation

  • Preventing duplicate payments and self-approvals

  • LCR Expenses system workflows

Donation Processing

  • Recording donations accurately

  • Handling donation slips

  • Special offerings and designated donations

  • Online donation allocation

Financial Reporting

  • Monthly financial statements

  • Ward financial reviews with bishop

  • Year-end reporting

Compliance and Audits

Critical Alerts

LCR Expenses System Flaws 🚨

The LCR Expenses system has known limitations:

  • Permits self-approvals by bishopric members
  • Doesn't enforce proper two-approval process
  • Doesn't enforce documentation requirements

You are the backstop! Double-check all expense requests for:

  • Two proper approvals (payee cannot be an approver)
  • Legible receipts with line items and sales tax
  • No duplicate reimbursements

The software developers are aware of these issues. Until fixed, clerks must manually verify compliance.

Cash Advances & Gift Cards ⚠️

Special rules apply to cash advances and gift cards:

  1. Two people must receive the check or gift card
  2. Two people must oversee the spending of funds
  3. All expenditures must be documented with receipts
  4. Any remaining balance must be returned

Failure to follow these procedures is a common audit finding.

Common Tasks

Weekly Tasks

  • Process donation batches

  • Review and approve expense reimbursements

  • Verify receipt documentation

Monthly Tasks

  • Prepare financial statements

  • Meet with bishop for financial review (30 minutes)

  • Reconcile accounts

  • Monitor budget vs. actual spending

Quarterly Tasks

  • Review audit readiness

  • Update signature cards if signers change

  • Verify all expenses have proper documentation

Annual Tasks

  • Prepare annual budget

  • Complete year-end reports

  • "Sacred Funds, Sacred Responsibility" training (required annually)

Financial Best Practices

Donation Handling

  • All donations require a slip - No exceptions

  • If amount doesn't match slip, hold donation and contact member

  • File and preserve every slip

  • Online donations should be allocated to appropriate activity accounts

Expense Verification Checklist

  • Two proper approvals (payee not an approver)

  • Legible receipt with line items

  • Sales tax clearly shown

  • Purpose documented

  • No duplicate reimbursement

  • Completed reimbursement form

Audit Prevention

  • Review expenses weekly, not monthly

  • Correct documentation and approvals immediately (can be fixed after the fact)

  • Keep organized files for all transactions

  • Schedule and hold monthly bishop review meeting