Accounting for churches

We have separate information on the Charities SORP and accounting for charities and maintain a guide to resources on Islamic finance.

Charity Community
The community focuses on supporting finance professionals in their paid and voluntary roles in or with the charity and voluntary sector. It offers regular e-newsletters containing the latest news and updates, as well as technical helpsheets, webinars and discounts on ICAEW events.

Parochial Church Council (PCC) Accountability Guide

PCC Accountability: The Charities Act 2011 and the PCC
Guide from the Church of England on parish, diocesan and charitable finances, providing essential advice for the preparation and scrutiny of annual accounts and financial reports. The guidance incorporates SORP 2015 regulations and also includes a guide to receipts and payments accounting and example Annual Reports and Accounts for small and large PCCs. The fifth edition was published in 2017. An online version is available.

Accounting and Reporting Regulations for English Anglican Cathedrals

Guidance on Accounting is available from the Association of English Cathedrals which includes:

• Accounting and reporting regulations for English Anglican Cathedrals (December 2018)
• Barchester Cathedral model accounts for the year ended 31 December 2019

Example reports and guidance

Accounting and reporting (Church of England)
Resources provided by the Church of England including guidance on receipts and payments accounts (including example accounts), accruals accounts, producing the trustees annual report, and external scrutiny.

Finance (Baptist Union)
Guidance and templates produced by the Baptist Union, including sample Terms of Engagement of Independent Examiner and a template for annual reports.

Finance (Methodist Church)
Standard forms and guidance notes from the Methodist Church on preparing end-of-year accounts for churches, circuits and districts. Includes a sample letter of engagement for an independent examiner. Information is also provided on other financial topics including gift aid, ministerial grants and pensions

Parish finance (Church of England)
Guides and information on parish finance, provided by the Church of England. Includes appointing a new treasurer, new treasurers guide, accounting for different types of funds, accounting and reporting, thresholds, independent examination, Gift Aid, funding guides, pensions auto-enrolment, and FACTA.

Stewardship: Briefing papers
Legal and technical guidance produced by Stewardship, an organisation supporting churches and Christian charities. The guides (some of which are free to download) cover finance and governance issues such as VAT, going concern, Gift Aid, payments overseas, legacy giving, and trustees.

Other resources

Church collections (HMRC)
Information on church collections within the Gift Aid scheme (Gift Aid, section 3.44) covering collections for the benefit of the church, church collections passed on to a charity, and church collections given to a church fund for a charity.

Organisations

Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers (ACAT)
Body established in 1992 to provide accounting guidance to churches, including checklists for preparing accounts.

Cathedral Administration and Finance Association (CAFA)
Body created to encourage the sharing of best practice and excellent standards of administration and financial management within English Anglican Cathedrals.

Churches' Legislation Advisory Service (CLAS)
Organisation in the UK representing major church bodies on legal issues. The CLAS issues guidance on church management, including taxation and grants. 

Ecclesiastical Law Society
Website includes a selection of reports on ecclesiastical cases taken from the Ecclesiastical Law Journal.

Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme
Interim grant scheme from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which gives grants covering the VAT on repairs of over £1,000 to listed buildings used as places of worship. The site provides guidance as to eligibility for the scheme.

The library provides access to a range of articles in full text from leading business, finance and management journals. Access to articles is provided to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users subject to suppliers' terms of use.

• View a list of articles and books in our collection on church accounting and places of worship

To find out how you can borrow books from the Library please see our guide to borrowing books.

You can obtain copies of articles or extracts of books and reports through our document supply service.