Part 2 of 3: When One Person Handles the Money—How Churches Can Prevent Financial Risk

Part 1 of 3: Why Every Church Needs Financial Oversight—Even When Trust Is High
Part 3 of 3: When Church Financial Reports Don’t Tell the Truth

In many congregations, one trusted individual handles nearly every aspect of the church’s finances. 

This person receives the offerings, makes the bank deposits, writes the checks, enters the transactions, reconciles the bank statements, and prepares the financial reports. 

They are often seen as irreplaceable, deeply loyal, and fully trusted by everyone around them. 

While this level of trust may seem like a blessing, it often creates one of the most overlooked sources of financial risk in the church.

This scenario is usually not created through poor intentions but through relational trust, a desire for efficiency, and limited staffing. 

When someone shows interest, dependability, and capability, it feels natural to delegate more to them. 

Over time, the systems and routines of the church grow around this individual. Eventually, their knowledge becomes institutional memory, their presence becomes essential, and their departure feels unthinkable. 

Without realizing it, many churches have placed both the authority and the responsibility for financial oversight in the hands of a single individual, creating  an  environment where oversight is least likely to occur.

The “fraud triangle” is a well-established concept that outlines the conditions where financial misconduct becomes more likely. 

The three components of the triangle are:

The opportunity for financial misconduct exists when no one else is watching.

If a person is collecting offerings, entering those amounts into the ledger, making deposits, and reconciling accounts without oversight, the opportunity for misstatement or misuse is present by default.

Pressure can come from personal life. 

It may be medical debt, family emergencies, relational breakdowns, or even the feeling of being overworked and underappreciated. Most of these pressures remain hidden from leadership, especially in small churches where personal and professional lines are blurred.

Rationalization is the mental justification that allows someone to violate their integrity. It may sound like “I’ll pay it back soon,” or “I’ve given too much of my time already,” or “The church owes me for all I’ve done.” 

Rationalization doesn’t begin with malice. It grows in silence and convenience when accountability is weak.

This is why churches must build systems that reduce both opportunity and isolation before these issues have the chance to grow.

Churches do not need to wait for growth or a crisis to change how they handle money. They can use a simple structure to create transparency, reduce pressure on individuals, and build a foundation of trust that does not depend on a single person. This approach also improves public perceptions, protecting the reputation of a team member who might otherwise face unwarranted accusations if all responsibilities fall to them. 

This structure follows a practical four-part framework: Stabilize, Systemize, Scale, and Sustain.

Begin by assessing your current process. List every financial task  being performed, then identify which individual is responsible for each. Pay special attention to roles involving authorization of payments, physical handling of cash or checks, recording of transactions in accounting software, and reconciliation of bank statements. 

If any one person performs more than one of these core tasks, the system is not stable. That person is carrying too much responsibility, and the church is exposed to risk, even if that risk is not yet visible.

To deepen this review, use simple tools like AI or guided templates. Write a prompt like this:: “List the four key financial functions in a church and how they should be divided to prevent internal risk.”

Once you have clarity on the current structure, redesign the workflow so that no single person handles more than one core task in the same transaction cycle. 

The four essential financial functions to separate are: 

Assign two unrelated people to count offerings together. Require a second signature on checks above a certain amount. 

Have someone outside the bookkeeping process handle monthly bank reconciliations. Use your accounting software’s user role features to ensure that not all functions are accessible to the same person.

Scale

Now that the system is in place, bring more people into the process. 

Financial sustainability does not depend on having more money. It depends on having more people trained, trusted, and engaged. Avoid creating a bottleneck where one person becomes the only person who knows how things work.  Teach leaders and board members how to read financial reports. The goal is to make financial health a shared responsibility, not a private task.

For training and communication, AI can be useful. Try prompts such as: “Write a training plan for new church finance volunteers that explains how to read a balance sheet and spot red flags.”

A strong system should last beyond the season or staff. Record your procedures in a finance manual and update it every year. Store templates and forms in a central location. 

Train successors before people step away. Share openly with the congregation that you have strong financial systems in place. Transparency builds confidence.

Create time-off rhythms for anyone involved in financial roles. No one should feel like the church cannot function without them. Structure creates peace. It reduces stress and protects people from burnout and isolation.

If needed, ask AI to help writea one-page financial controls policy for your church that clearly explains roles and responsibilities.

One person should never carry the entire weight of the church’s finances. Even when that person is capable and trustworthy, the system becomes fragile, the risk becomes silent, and the mission becomes vulnerable. By taking small steps to build structure, your church is not just protecting money. It is protecting people, building trust, and creating systems that can grow and last.