Church Secretary wrote:Hi
Our church is currently without a Sr. Pastor. The congregation voted to use the remainder of our old pastor's wages to fund the newly created, Pulpit Supply line item. Lets say $20,000.00.
Do I decrease the wages line item and put 20,000 in the pulpit line item in the chart of accounts?
or
Do I make a transfer in the check register from wages to the pulpit line item?
SIDE NOTE: we have a candidate so the monies might be going back to the wages line item soon.
Thx for your help
Not knowing how you are setup, this example is for a single Operations Fund where all ministry and salaries are paid out of. FWIW, this is the usual Chart of Accounts setup I've seen in most churches.
You would reduce the Budget for wages and increase the Pulpit Supply budget. No need to 'transfer' anything as this is a budget line item, and no actual funds are touched until a check is cut.
Once a new pastor is hired, you would then decrease the Pulpit Supply budget to what it should be to cover the pastor's vacations and any study leave, and adjust the salary, employer taxes, health insurance, and other salary budget lines to cover expenses from the date of hire to the end of the year.
If this is NOT how your CoA is setup, please give us specific details on your setup so we can then try to give you some pointers.