Reconciling Your Finance Records: What to Check Monthly
A simple monthly routine to keep your ledger trustworthy.
A monthly checklist
- Compare total recorded giving (manual entries plus Online Giving) against your bank deposits for the same period
- Review any gifts recorded as anonymous, confirm that's intentional rather than a data-entry shortcut that should have captured the giver
- Check for gifts recorded without a Fund that probably should have one, and vice versa
- Confirm Giving Receipt automation (if enabled) actually sent receipts for the period, using the dispatch log
Why this matters
Because Online Giving and manually recorded gifts both land in the same ledger automatically (see How Sermfy's Finance Ledger Works), a monthly reconciliation is more about catching data-entry patterns than worrying about the underlying numbers drifting apart.
Assign this monthly check to a specific person rather than assuming "someone" reviews Finance, an unowned recurring task quietly stops happening.
Best practice
Keep a simple running note of anything unusual you find each month (an odd anonymous spike, a Fund that stopped receiving gifts unexpectedly), patterns across several months are often more informative than any single month in isolation.
Related Articles
Best Practices for Categorizing Gifts with Funds
Keep your Finance reports meaningful by being consistent about when to use a Fund.
Setting Up Funds
Track giving toward a specific purpose, and what happens to history when a fund is closed.
How Sermfy's Finance Ledger Works
A plain-language look at the double-entry system running behind every simple giving form.
Understanding Giving Receipts
What's on a receipt, the difference between manual and automatic receipts, and what happens with no email on file.