The Ministry Financial Blueprint rates eight areas of ministry finance. Alongside the score, it asks five yes-or-no questions that do not change the number but deserve a conversation soon if the answer is yes.
They take about a minute to answer. Here they are, with what each one is really asking.
1. Have restricted or designated funds ever been used for operating expenses?
Even temporarily, this means the promise behind a gift is not fully backed by cash. If the answer is yes or not sure, the first step is a report that shows each fund’s balance next to unrestricted cash actually available.
2. Are any significant accounts currently unreconciled?
Unreconciled bank, credit card, payroll, loan or balance-sheet accounts mean the books cannot be fully trusted, however good they look. Reconciliation every month is the foundation of every other number.
3. Can one person initiate, approve and complete a significant transaction alone?
This is about protecting people as much as money. Separating who requests, who approves and who pays, even in a small office, removes temptation and suspicion at the same time. Simple approval limits and dual signatures go a long way.
4. Has there been a recent cash shortfall, missed obligation or emergency transfer?
A near miss is information. It usually means there is no forward view of cash. A 13-week cash-flow forecast turns the next shortfall into something you see coming weeks ahead.
5. Are material decisions being delayed because leadership lacks information?
If the board keeps tabling a hire, a repair or an expansion because nobody can say what it would do to cash and reserves, the gap is not courage. It is visibility. Reporting that arrives early enough to shape decisions is the fix.
