Church Cashbook User Manual

A plain-English overview of how different roles typically use the system, with common workflows and a small glossary.

Who uses Church Cashbook

This section explains how different people typically use Church Cashbook in day-to-day church life. It is organised by role rather than by feature.

Tip: If you are unsure where to start, read the section that matches your role and follow the cross-references.

• Church Viewer (read only)
• Treasurer (day-to-day operator)
• Gift Aid Manager
• Independent Examiner
• Deanery/diocese finance oversight
• Common Workflows
  • Entering a simple payment
  • Reconciling to the bank
  • Preparing month-end
  • Preparing year-end
  • Preparing a Gift Aid claim
• Glossary of common terms (full page)
• Getting Started - First Login Guidance

Church Viewer (read-only)

Goal: See what’s going on, without changing anything.

• View the dashboard — headline figures and recent activity. See Dashboard.
• Browse cashbook entries — filter, open, and review items. See Transactions.
• Run standard reports — monthly summaries and category views. See Reports.
• Support an Independent Examiner — provide read-only access where your governance allows.

Treasurer (day-to-day operator)

Goal: Record transactions accurately and produce clear, reliable reporting.

• Confirm you are in the right church (especially if you have access to more than one). See Church selection and scope.
• Enter Money In / Money Out with clear descriptions and correct categories. See Transactions and Categories.
• Use journals for internal corrections or movements that are not new real-world payments. See Transactions.
• Attach receipts (optional). Many parishes keep paper receipts separately; uploading is optional. See Transactions.
• Reconcile by marking items cleared when they appear on bank statements. See Transactions.
• Maintain budgets (where permitted) and review variance. See Budgets.
• Prepare year-end outputs using reports and pack tools. See Reports.

Gift Aid Manager

(This may be the Treasurer or a separate Gift Aid Manager role.)

Goal: Keep Gift Aid clean, defensible, and easy to claim.

• Maintain declarations and keep them current. See Gift Aid.
• Review candidates — a work queue of transactions that may qualify but need checking/linking. See Gift Aid.
• Link donations correctly and record exclusions with clear notes.
• Prepare and progress claims (draft → ready → signed off → submitted) and export claim CSV when required. See Gift Aid.
• Run Gift Aid reports for coverage, exclusions, and (where applicable) GASDS. See Gift Aid.

Independent Examiner (if enabled in your diocese)

Goal: Spot-check, confirm governance, and verify reporting.

• Access assigned churches (read-only) and review transactions and reports.
• Spot-check entries against bank statements and evidence (receipts where present).
• Review year-end outputs and cross-check totals and category breakdowns.
• Review Gift Aid evidence trail where Gift Aid is used.

Deanery / diocese finance oversight

Goal: Standardisation, oversight reporting, and governance across multiple churches.

• Run oversight reporting to compare totals, categories, and trends across churches. See Reports.
• Support standard categories so churches report consistently. See Categories.
• Monitor operational health such as exports and audit/activity behaviour (where enabled). See Church settings and Troubleshooting.

Common workflows

Entering a simple payment

1. Confirm you are in the correct church (if applicable).
2. Open Transactions and choose Add.
3. Enter details and save.
4. Attach a receipt if you have one (optional).

Reconciling to the bank

1. Open recent items in Transactions.
2. Compare against your bank statement.
3. Mark matching entries as cleared.
4. Investigate any differences.

Preparing month-end

• Ensure all transactions are entered and reconciliation is up to date.
• Run the key reports you rely on (often the Monthly Summary).

See Reports.

Preparing year-end

• Complete final reconciliation and review category allocations.
• Generate and download the year-end outputs required for Independent Examination.

See Reports and Categories.

Preparing a Gift Aid claim

• Review candidates, confirm declarations are current, and record exclusions clearly.
• Generate a draft claim and progress it through your approval steps.

See Gift Aid.

Getting started

A role-by-role first login checklist — what to check, what to set up, and where to go next — is on the Getting started page.