Abstract:

This paper discusses the subject of “best practices” for designing and implementing chart of accounts and how to put them into place in churches and ministries. The Chart of Accounts provides a critical financial management solution for churches and ministries whose administrative and economic infrastructure is obsolete, or has been destroyed through mismanagement of fund by unqualified staff. The paper adopts primary method to collect its data. Five church Denominations/Ministries were selected from available church Denominations and Ministries in Nasarawa state. The population per selected business is ERCC 20; ECWA 25; COCIN 20; Living seed (Peace House) 25; Word of God Ministry 10; were selected using the random sampling technique. Tables and simple percentages were used to analyze the data. The paper finds that not all the churches and ministries uses chart of accounts holistically in the preparation of their financial statements. Therefore, the paper recommended that a down-earth application of chart of accounts should be embraced by church denominations for efficiency and growth.