Atlanta CPA Teaches Business, Church and Ministry Financing HELPING TO LIFT the veil of business, church and ministry financing is a key concern and goal for all those concerned in pursuing the furtherance and good news of Jesus Christ. Keeping these basis tenants in mind will do much to ensure your business or ministry's success, and in so doing will enable the spiritual goals of it as well. These considerations will help you along the way and to ensure that your plans are both achievable and achieved.
Financial Model/Business Plan
Perhaps the most important first step is the development of a Financial Model/Business Plan. Such a plan should take the form of a written document and should be detailed enough so that someone independent of your operations would be able to review and to quickly discover your business resources, talents, goals, and plans to get there. A good business plan would contain all of the following:
-Description. Knowing and documenting who you are and what your short and long term vision are the essential components of this section.
-Marketing. Knowing how you plan to grow your business, church or ministry is integral to having a workable and viable plan.
-Financial Management. Knowing your financial strengths and weakness and your cash flow needs and need for capital are a critical part of the process.
-Management. Knowing not only the needs of key management players and the "trigger dates" for bringing on additional staff and administration are integral components of the success quotient.
Writing a business plan is your first step to maintain order and to develop a well-thought out and seasoned plan. It is during this process that many "missteps" can be avoided with wise and judicious planning.
Proverbs 28:2 "When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order."
Plan, Plan, Plan
Business Planning and its continual updating are essential. Often I have entertained entrepreneurs and leaders only to ask them what their business model stated would have occurred, only to learn that the business plan had never been updated making it an unsteady and unreliable document. Just as an airplane makes numerous corrections along the way, so should business leaders take the time to continually update their business plan for necessary corrections and changes. Failure to do so, will result in the strong likelihood of failure. If we are to watch nature we can learn that even those, such as an ant, are diligent and consistently working hard for the battles and journey ahead.
Proverbs 6:6 "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!"
Surviving Tough Economic Times
When the "going gets tough, the tough get going." Though a quotation that has been handed down for years, today's economy teaches us more than ever that we are to be good stewards of the talents and resources that we have been given. Just as the failure to plan will increase the rate and depth of our failure, just as likely is our success to be tainted if we are not good stewards. Stewardship requires forethought and careful planning and even is more important and vastly critical when tough economic times arrive. For if we are not good stewards the results of our hard labor are ordained to be in vain as God promises to take from us what we do not manage well.
Matthew 25:28 "Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents."
Diligence
Being ever diligent watching out over the horizon for contingencies is a priority for all those in leadership. Life is full of stories of those who fail to revisit their plans, allow for the unexpected and do their best to anticipate the future. Though "life is certainly what happens while we are busy making plans," not taking the time to exercise prudence or failing to be diligent in our efforts is a recipe for certain disaster.
Proverbs 21:5 "The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."
Delegation
It has often been said that we are "often promoted to our point of competency" rising through the ranks and corporate ladder as our talents are rewarded and additional responsibility bestowed. However, there is no greater opportunity to fail than for those who are unwilling to delegate. Wise delegation requires letting go of the "purse strings" a bit and allowing others to make independent decisions but it does not mean not staying connected or involved. Abrogation is letting go totally and letting others decide your future for you, whereas proper and judicious delegation requires setting up checks and balances and reporting mechanisms in the process to ensure that progress is tracked and that goals are achieved with acceptable energies and resources being applied.
Exodus 18:17-18 "Moses' father-in-law replied, 'What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.'"
John Dillard is an author and Certified Public Accountant (All Rights Reserved). To See how he takes Christ along with him to work visit www.hiscpa.com (a Christian Atlanta CPA firm) and for his latest book Overcoming Life's 9/11's: Job's Journey visit john-dillard.com
For further reading:
• Strategic Business Concerns: Learning How to Anticipate the Unexpected
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• Funeral Planning
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• Finding God's Plan For Your Income Taxes
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• Ready for the Future
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• God's Way of Finding a Job
If you find yourself in the job market, remember that God has planned a particular job for you. He designed it for you before the beginning of time.
• Making a Will
Although wills are easy to create, about half of Americans die without one. By making a will you decide what happens to your property after your death. |
