For many business administrators, the turn of the year is an opportunity to let out a sigh of relief. The new operating budget is whipped into shape and ready for the vote. What seemed like an endless process of trimming, tweaking and crunching numbers finally is ended.

While the start of a new year may be a catharsis for those charged with putting the budget together, the pressure has just begun for ministry leaders. They are the ones who must manage that $30,000 budgeted for, say, the children's ministry. And while the plan looks good on paper, it is nothing more than numbers until the money starts landing in the collection plate.

"Just because there is money in the budget, so to speak, doesn't mean there is cash to cover it, so budgets have to be constantly monitored and adjusted, and people have to be accountable," said Simeon May, executive director of the National Association of Church Business Administration in Richardson, Texas.

"Where it's tough to stick with it is when there is a lack of financial accountability and people say, ‘Oh, yeah. It's in my budget. I can go spend the money,' when in

The problem, said Dave Pollock, director of Resource Ministries Inc. in Winnetka, Calif., is that a large portion of those lining up to spend the budget are not necessarily privy to how the money trickles in each week.

"It's difficult because you have a lot of volunteers involved in the process," he said. "It's not like you have in a company or a business where you have employees and it's a lot more firm. When you are relying on volunteers, you have to have wiggle room because you can't fire them."

Is Bigger Better?

Pollock said that despite the enormity of some of their budgets, larger churches don't have as much of a problem staying within them. At large churches, the budget is typically administered by a full-time employee, and there are lots of line-items and controls.

"The smaller churches do have a little more difficulty because they do rely a lot more on lay volunteers," Pollock said. "It's not a weakness; it's just the way it is. It's a cultural thing."

For management consultant Ken Godevenos of Accord Consulting in Newmarket, Ontario, it is not necessarily how big a church is, but how well it sees the big picture.

"The issue is whether or not the church knows what it wants to do for Christ's kingdom in the community where they've been placed, during the year ahead," Godevenos said.

When it comes to fiscal responsibility, he said certain questions come to mind. Does the church have a business plan? Does it have long-term and short-term objectives clearly defined? Does it have associates in charge of various aspects of the ministry who have done their homework?

If so, a church should not have too much trouble sticking to its budget.

"I'd like to think that the size of the church is not a variable as to how successful they are in sticking to a budget. Budgets are developed by small families and multi-national conglomerates," Godevenos said. "At both ends of the spectrum, some stick to them and some don't. The issue I believe is in how well trained people are in objective- and budget-setting processes. Then those budgets need to be monitored regularly and enforced appropriately."

A Matter of Stewardship

Charles Roundtree, director of operations at South Highland Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala., monitors spending carefully. He said a big part of his job is to make sure the ministry leaders are up to date on money coming in versus what is going out.

"The difficulty is making people realize there isn't an endless flow of money," Roundtree said "I think the biggest challenge is people having the mentality that if it's in the budget, let's spend it. We've been pretty lucky here in that most people have been pretty responsible in doing what needs to be done. We really haven't run into a lot of that problem."

Roundtree said that by demonstrating fiscal responsibility, leaders show the membership they are good stewards of the money they have been entrusted with.

"I think they know we don't just go spend money just to be spending money," he said. "We are trying to take the money and be good stewards of it and try to accomplish the work the church and the Lord would want. That's really the bottom line of it."

Good budget setting and monitoring are things most Christian workers would welcome, Godevenos said.

"As good stewards of God's money, one of the most important principles of financial management is given to us in 2 Cor. 8:18-21 — the principle of carefully safeguarding against mismanagement both before God and others," he said. "I believe that good budgets and budget enforcement help us do that."

Use or Lose Mentality

Chances are ministry leaders who practice good management and accountability may find they have a little left at the end of the year. When that occurs, the natural tendency is to spend. That is not always a bad thing.

"If the church is rolling in the tithes and offerings, I suppose that there is nothing wrong with madly spending at the end of the year funds that you had budgeted to spend but never got around to," Godevenos said. "On the other hand, if a church is having a more difficult financial year, the fact that one department is under-budget late in the year could mean that some money could be funneled to a department that really does need it, or those funds could be set aside for next year's budget process."

If leaders come in under budget, some may question whether they needed that much in the first place - particularly those who had to trim valued projects off their own requests to meet budgetary guidelines.

According to Pollock, leaders who were frugal should not be penalized when it comes time to make the next year's budget.

"My philosophy is if they didn't spend it and they thought they needed it, I'd give it to them next year as a reward," Pollock said. "Otherwise, if you take it away, now you have created the ‘use it or lose it' mentality, and people will then spend for the wrong reasons. I don't want them doing that. I want them to be able to be very open and honest with their projections. If it's not enough, then we'll give them more if it's warranted.