Faith-Based Accounting

Security at Your Church/School

You need more than faith in God to keep you and your people safe from attacks in your facilities!!

Recently, several high-profile incidents have raised awareness of the threat posed by individuals against churches, schools, and similar organizations.  Dr. George Tiller, a controversial  physician in Kansas, was shot to death in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.  James von Brunn attacked the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC; he had a list of other potential targets in his vehicle, including the National Cathedral.  The man who attacked a military recruiting center in Little Rock also conducted ongoing surceillance on a Baptist church in Atlanta.  And although it's been ten years since the horrific catastrophe, our own client, Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, lost seven members when a lone gunman opened fire in the church sanctuary.

For help in security issues, I immediately think of our friends at Gatekeepers Security Services, www.gatekeeperssecurity.com.  Chuck Chadwick and Matt Gilstrap stress that it's much more than alarms and locks.  Many churches utilize off-duty police officers or other hired security personnel.  Even more, though, there needs to be an overall awareness by the entire congregation that's proactive.  Effective security takes ongoing training, and so much more.

Contact Gatekeepers for help and insight in this area.  And contact PSK with questions about the business of running your church.

Do you want to comment on proposed IRS Cell Phone regulations?

Related to the last post on IRS & Cell Phones, I read the actual IRS Notice 2009-46.  The IRS is considering three possible approaches, and they will allow public comment through September 4, 2009.  Go here to see the details. What approach would you suggest?

Meetings and Training Policy

Churches and schools often have annual meetings or retreats that employees must attend.  A source of irritation for employees can be the issue of pay -- or no pay -- for time spent attending meetings and training sessions.

Tell employees they have to attend a meeting or training program, and the employees may raise questions like these:

• Is attendance mandatory, or can we skip it?
  
  
• If we show up, do we get paid?
  
  
• If we don’t get paid for the time at the meeting or training, why do we have to attend?

Church leadership can lessen, and even end, the irritation employees experience, and avoid having to deal with questions like those above by adopting a clear policy on the topic.

Address the following in this policy:

1. How often do you have employee meetings?  For example: once a year...once a month...every other month.
   
   
2. Is employee attendance requested or mandatory?  This is especially important if meetings are held when all employees aren’t on-duty but are required to come into work to attend the meeting.
   
   Warning: Keep in mind that if you require off-duty employees to attend meetings... you must pay them for that time, if they are non-exempt employees.  Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must pay employees for attending meetings: (1) if their attendance is mandatory and (2) the meeting serves to benefit the employer.  If meetings are strictly voluntary and outside of working hours, you may not be required to pay employees.  Get information on the Fair Labor Standards Act from the U.S. Department of Labor’s “ELAWS” website –
   http://www.dol.gov/elaws/flsa.htm
   
   
3. Be sure and mention where the meetings are usually held, what time they are held and what type of topics will be discussed.

Here’s some wording to consider in a meetings policy: "The Company holds monthly employee meetings.  These meetings are usually held at 4 p.m. in the staff lounge.  All employees are required to attend.  Off-duty personnel are required to punch-in at the start of the meeting and punch-out at the end of the meeting.  You will be paid your regular rate of pay for your attendance at these meetings."

NOTE: We’re not lawyers or spokespersons for the government!  We do try to provide accurate and helpful information.  But this is not intended to provide a legal service for your individual needs.  For legal guidance in your specific situations, always consult with an attorney who is familiar with employment law and labor issues.  Our friends at the Church Law Group would be happy to assist with legal guidance - www.churchlawgroup.com.  That having been said, we can offer you a sample policy on the meetings and training topic – www.pskcpa.com.

Crisis Management

At our most recent monthly breakfast for church business administrators, Lawrence Swicegood offered great info on Crisis Management.  He runs Clarion Call Marketing - www.clarioncallmarketing.com.  Very insightful!  Everything from how to be prepared even before a crisis erupts, how to handle and how to do a "post mortem."  Topics, in outline form:

• Everyone is Affected by a Crisis
• Characteristics of a Crisis
• Planning for a Crisis
• Potential Crises for a Church
• Developing a Response Plan
• Internal & External Communications

• Post Crisis Analysis

For more info, contact Lawrence (lswicegood@msn.com) or give us a call at PSK.

Reason for Benevolence Policy - Don't Fall for Scam

So a chaplain at the University of Dallas wanted to be kind and reach out to someone who seemed needy.  And now the Chapel at the University is $100,000 poorer!  See the article in the Dallas Morning News -http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/021709dnmetchaplain.36f29b2.html

Your church needs to have a clearly written benevolence policy - AND it needs to be followed!  The policy should address questions like -

• To whom will your church offer assistance?
• For what reasons?
• How much?
• How many times?

By the way, you cannot offer assistance to anyone on staff or their relatives.  By law, that is taxable income that MUST be reported to the IRS!

So take care!  If you don't have a formal benevolence policy, give us a call - we'll provide help and a policy template.

Your Mission Trips and Homeland Security

Last week, we had a presentation here at PSK on this topic!  Homeland Security and the Patriot Act are musts when thinking about your church's Mission Trips.

Steve Tiemann was our speaker.  He is an attorney who has lots of experience both as a lawyer and as a church member in this area. www.swtlaw.net.

Main points -

• Know the guidelines.  The US Treasury has issued Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines.  Boring but an essential 16 page document to be aware of.  Check out http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/0929%20finalrevised.pdf. 
• Know who you're dealing with.  In the foreign country, have intimate knowledge about the organizations and/or individuals you're sending money to.  You can check out the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) at the US Dept of State's website - http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/2004/32678.htm.
• Know that the US Gov't is serious.  Federal law doesn't allow you to use the excuse: I didn't know!  If your church or organization inadvertently supports terrorists or terrorist organizations, you're guilty! 

Your Church and Terrorists; Something Else to Worry About

Our clients keep us on our toes! Because we encourage them to call us when they have a problem and we generally don’t charge for phone calls, we get a steady stream of questions posed to us by our clients and friends.

Most of the questions are quite routine, dealing with things common to all churches: whether or not a particular employee qualifies for a housing allowance or if a designated gift should be treated as a deductible contribution. But occasionally something new comes along.

PSK hosts a monthly breakfast for church business administrators where in addition to a delicious meal the attendees are treated to a discussion of a topic relevant to church business administration. In May our breakfast was billed, “Know Before You Go” and we discussed things that must be considered when planning a short term mission trip. For example what do you do if a member asks for contribution credit for paying for a specific individual to go on the trip? We also covered trip organization (passports, visas, shots etc.), paymaster responsibility and record keeping and insurance.

But, something I was asked recently made me aware we had left something out. “We are sending money to a mission group in Africa. Can we get in trouble with Homeland Security?” Turns out they and other churches funding ministries like schools, hospitals and orphanages, should be concerned.

Now, I don’t want you to get overly concerned. The reality is that it is unlikely that a church will have its assets frozen or exempt status threatened by funding an orphanage. Provided, of course, it takes minimum precautions. Here’s just a few:

• First become familiar with Executive Order 13224 and The USA Patriot Act the legislation requiring that certain things be done. Helpful resources are The US Treasury’s Anti-terrorist guidelines (http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/docs/tocc.pdf) and The Principles of International Charity. (http://www.usig.org/PDFs/Principles_Final.pdf)
• Educate your church, both staff and laity, of the implications of the anti-terrorist rules.
• Do background checks on the groups you are helping, particularly referring to several government lists that identify terrorists.
• Keep good records of all of your activities and insist on accountability.

There you go; something new to worry about over your Christmas holidays. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call!

Merry Christmas!