Below is a summary of financial actions your board finance/audit committee should complete during their meetings throughout the year. It outlines a minimum of three meetings that a combined church finance/audit committee should have, and the tasks that should be completed in each meeting. Due to the amount of agenda items covered in each meeting, the board may decide to separate these into multiple meetings to shorten the agenda for each.

Tasks that should be completed by the audit committee are marked with an (A). Note that some states have laws prohibiting the combination of these two committees. If so, the duties below should be separated by committee.

It’s important to emphasize that this model assumes the committee has skilled members with a financial background. The frequency of meetings and the tasks covered in each meeting may be more or less than outlined below, depending on the number of meetings and whether the committee is combined or split out into separate audit and finance committees.

Standing Agenda Listing for Finance/Audit Committee with a Fiscal Year-End of December 31

Reminder: Minutes should be maintained for all meetings

MEETING 1: FALL MEETING MINUTES

1. Budget approval
2. Approval of audit firm services, if any (A)
3. Review and approval of miscellaneous auditor services, if any (A)
4. Review of progress on auditor comment letter items (A)
5. Financial reporting risk evaluation
6. External auditor engagement scope and audit plan review, if any (A)
7. Discussion and approval of estimates and judgments