Diocese as an Accounting Service Provider to Parishes Andrea Marihart, CPA Diocese of Fargo
Parishes struggle with finding bookkeepers to help with their accounting entries. This session will explain how the Diocese of Fargo provides professional accounting and payroll services to parishes through a Parish Service Department (PSD), as a way to save parishes time, money, and frustration.
Services We Provide Accounting Assistance: Enter all transactions pertaining to normal daily business activities Provide checks from coded invoices/bills Perform monthly bank reconciliations Produce monthly/annual financial reports Prepare 1099s
Payroll: Services We Provide Provide a paycheck (or direct deposit paystub) for each employee for each pay period Calculate tax deposit requirements and handle payments Prepare quarterly/annual federal/state tax reports Prepare W-2s
Responsibilities of Parish Accounting Assistance: Provide bank statement Provide detail of transactions and/or coded invoices/bills Provide budget information Review reports
Responsibilities of Parish Payroll: Provide employer and employee information, name, address, etc. Send payroll information by 25 th of month for EOM payroll Provide all employee maintenance initiated by employees
Timeline 2006 Bishop Aquila heard from several pastors who were frustrated because their parish financial records were a mess. Further discussion with the deans revealed they were looking for a more standardized system.
Timeline 2007 Our CFO developed and recommended a standardized chart of accounts to parishes. Information was sent out to generate interest in and get a headcount. 12 parishes signed commitment forms and started sending information for the initial setup.
Timeline 2008 An accountant was hired. The Parish Service Department was officially launched in January. 2010 It was decided that all parishes would start utilizing the ConnectNow Accounting program by 2012. Training was held to familiarize parishes with the program. PSD was presented as an option to those not comfortable making the switch.
Parishes Utilizing Services 33 parishes currently utilize our services to some degree. This is about ¼ of the parishes in the diocese. 15 of these parishes have payroll. 19 of these parishes are full-service, while the remaining parishes require different levels of service. Time involved varies greatly from ½ to 20 hours per parish per month depending on the size of the parish. The price is $30/hr billed monthly.
The Day-to-day Process Parishes send in coded bills, deposits, bank statements, etc. Transactions are input. Checks are mailed out to parishes and signed by the pastor. Payroll is processed. Financial statements are generated.
The Day-to-day Process How we communicate: Email is the preferred method of communication. Many of the parishes will scan documents and send them as email attachments. I email out monthly financial statements to pastors and/or finance councils. A few parishes still choose to fax or to mail information. I also do follow-up calls if I have questions on something that was sent in.
Benefits to Parish Weight off pastor s shoulders No struggle to find a bookkeeper with the needed expertise Ease when pastor switches parishes Pay only for the time needed Knowing requirements are being met Accountant Knowledgeable about payroll and taxes Up-to-date on accounting changes Familiar enough with software to know the ins and outs
Benefits to Diocese Someone in-house familiar with ConnectNow Accounting program To help implement the software initially Familiar with program updates Offer summer training/refresher to help parishes fully utilize program features More timely and accurate reporting
Questions?