This section will point you in the direction of resources to help you keep on top of your parish's finances.
Resources for treasurers
Manchester Diocese is a member of the Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers (ACAT).
Membership gives all church treasurers access to resources, support and training on the ACAT website. For access to the Members' Area, please email finance@manchester.anglican.org for the current password.
Parish Accounts
Parish accounts should be sent to the diocese every year following their approval at your Parish's annual meeting. They can be uploaded to the diocesan Dropbox (no account required), emailed to finance@manchester.anglican.org or posted to St John's House, 155-163 The Rock, Bury, BL9 0ND.
A template for preparing parish accounts on a receipts and payments basis is available to download here.
Parish accounts receipt and payments basis (narrative) - Word document
Parish accounts receipts and payments basis (spreadsheet) - Excel document
A checklist and work programme is available to help your independent examiner complete the examination and ensure they have performed sufficient checks to provide an Independent examiner's statement.
An example Independent Examiners Statement is included in the Parish accounts Word document template above.
Fees
Detailed guidance on parochial fees can be found in The Guide to Church of England Parochial Fees. Specific guidance on Parochial Fees produced by the finance team in the diocese is available here.
he current table of fees and returns forms can be found below:
2023 (March to December)
Revised Parochial fees from 1 March 2023
REVISED FEES FORM FROM MARCH 2023 (Excel)
REVISED FEES FORM FROM MARCH 2023 (PDF)
Payment of parochial fees to SSMs OLMs and Readers
Payment of parochial and casual duty fees to retired clergy
SSM FEES Registration and Claim Form
2023 (January to February)
Parochial fees from 1 January 2023
Fees - monthly return form 2023 (Excel)
Fees - monthly return form 2023 (PDF)
Please return all DBF fees as soon as possible after the end of every month using the monthly return form above. It is also important that you send in a NIL return if there is no fee income for the month. Forms can be sent by email to fees@manchester.anglican.org or by post to:
St John’s House, 155-163 The Rock, Bury, BL9 0ND
For any payments that are made to the DBF by bank transfer, please quote your Parish reference/Fees e.g. R12345/Fees
A copy of the form should be retained by the parish for your records.
Please discourage clients/funeral directors from writing out personal cheques.
Reserves
It is important for charities to have a policy explaining their approach to reserves.
There is no single level or even a range of reserves that is right for all charities. Any target set by trustees for the level of reserves to be held, or decision that there is no need for reserves, should reflect the particular circumstances of the individual charity and be explained in the policy.
Guidance is available from the Charity Commission website and also from the Parish Resources website.
Parish Resources website
The Parish Resources website is provided by the Church of England’s National Stewardship & Resources team and offers over 400 pages of resources (web & pdf) to support all aspects of stewardship, administration and management in the local church, as well as links to other sites and pages of interest.