How the various areas of accounting is relevant to the priestly ministry

 INTRODUCTION

The catholic priesthood is a ministerial vocation. In other words a priest is not of his own making; he is called, prepared and sent. In the changing face of the world, the church and the mission of the church take on different dimensions; the diverse nature of the church’s mission necessitated the varieties of apostolate. These different apostolic centers including the parish church requires proper management which intrinsically includes the management of fund and the management of fund cannot deal without accounting. Thus the various areas of accounting is important to the priestly ministry.

 HOW THE VARIOUS AREAS OF ACCOUNTING IS RELEVANT TO THE PRIESTLY MINISTRY

Accountability is one of the qualities emphasized as being necessary in the personality of a priest. The various areas of accounting afford him the opportunity to improve on his accountability. It is necessary to keep proper financial records, it is very necessary that a priest keeps track of the financial operations in the place of his apostolate. The different areas of accounting help to control income against expenditures. In order to prevent frauds and detect errors, control and supervision over church fund is necessary. These accounts for the relevance of accounting to the priestly ministry.

THE DIFFERENT AREAS OF ACCOUNTING AND THEIR RELEVANCE

BOOK KEEPING: this is a systematic recording of transaction in appropriate books. This is foundational to accounting. With regards to the priestly ministry, this area of accounting is very important, no so much as in financial books but with special regards proper documentations of individual sacraments celebrated in the parish church. In other words this is register keeping. These registers are fundamentally important to every parish church because they serve reference purposes. Some of this registers include baptismal register, confirmation register, marriage register etc

COST ACCOUNTING: This involves the evaluation of resources quantified in monetary terms, and value of fixed assets. The fact of no priest having a permanent place ministry makes this very necessary, because in handing over to a new management of parish priest, a priest is expected to make a statement regarding the assets of the parish or the place he works; things he met when he came, things he acquired during his tenure and things he disposed of. Much more than just for the mere sake of clarification, this is very important.

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING: this is the application of professional skill in presenting accounting information. The priest share in the priesthood of his bishop, the parish church is a part of the local church. To this regards, a priest is not expected to do a haphazard preparation of the accounts of his place of apostolate, because that same account may be required by the bishop or deans at the diocesan level. This allows the church to plan her financial program; collecting and disbursing money in a systematic manner to achieve her objectives without waste or loss and at the minimum cost.

AUDITING: The Church as a religious institution is not in the strict sense meant for profit making but she requires fund to administer its affairs and to carry out its daily religious obligations. To this regard the relevance of auditing cannot be undermined especially with regards to the different apostolic sectors that generate income, like schools, hospitals etc where a priest might see himself as a manager in the course of his ministry. The parish church generates income by different means, ranging from free will donations, collections, fund raisings, etc these funds are to be recorded accordingly and accounted for.

CONCLUSION

In order to maintain transparency in the parish administration, it is necessary that financial reports should be prepared occasionally; quarterly or annually in order to account for income and expenditures of the parish church. In addition, accounting is not only important with regards to financial management, but it is equally important for record keeping