Financial management practices at Burundi Union Fields

Abstract

This study concerns the financial management practices of Burundi Union’s Fields. All Seventh-day Adventist Churches in the world have a mission to go and preach the good news of Jesus Christ. However, that mission cannot be carried on without funds. To fulfill that mission, the Burundi Union Fields need to mobilize and use effectively the financial resources they receive from members and donors. Hence, the purpose of the study is to determine to what extent are the Fields effective in managing their finances. To achieve the objective, three aspects of financial management are considered: financial planning or budgeting, internal control and financial accounting practices. The instruments include a questionnaire which was distributed to 86 respondents, with the majority male, with age range between 41 and 50 and had a bachelor ‘degree as level of education. Both primary data and secondary data were used. Financial Statements were analyzed using the indicators such as working capital, liquidity and self-support ratios to determine the financial condition of Fields during the period of 2015-2017. The results show that some Fields were not managing their finances as effectively and efficiently as they should. Only the Peace Field’s budget is being used as an instrument of control and evaluation because it is regularly posted in the accounting books. The budget of other Fields is not all recorded in their books of accounting. Consequently, their budgets are not used as an instrument of control and evaluation. This is the case of Hope Field for the year of 2017, Light Field for the year of 2015 and Maranatha Field for the years of 2015, 2016, and 2017. Further, for Peace Field and Light Field the documentation which contains procedures of internal control is not produced. For all the Fields, only the 2015 financial statements are audited by GCAS. In addition, for some fields, the internal auditor does not meet the treasurers of the local churches to discuss about critical issues of internal control.