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Parish Pulse Newsletter

The year has whizzed by, and we’re almost at Christmas again.  It’s been a busy year for both Trust Management and all the parishes we work with, with the parish accounting team further bedding down and some great innovations underway.  This edition of the Parish Pulse contains some insights into changes that have already occurred, and those that are now underway to improve the way we provide your accounting services.


Covered in this newsletter:

  • Changes at Trust Management

  • Accounting System Review

  • Continuous Improvement Projects

  • Access to Accredo

  • Parish Accounting Charter

  • Year End Processes

  • Parish Accountant profile – Raj Serasinghe



 
Changes at Trust Management

It’s been a busy time at Trust Management.  As part of our commitment to client service, we are transitioning to a business-partnership model.  This new approach will foster greater collaboration and reduce silos, ultimately improving our service to you.  The transition has meant some changes to the structure of our Senior Leadership Team.   The role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO), previously held by Sarah Hipkiss, has been disestablished, and a new General Manager – Customer Service has been introduced.  This new role has been filled by Renee Tourell (who started in early October), we will provide an introduction to her in future newsletters.  


What does this mean for Parish Accounting? Marie’s role is now Head of Parish Accounting.  We have also had a new Senior Accountant join the Parish Accounting team to support the team and assist with the service improvement projects as we continue to focus on how we support you better. Please join me in welcoming Ankita Thaper to the team.  Ankita will be focused on the Diocese of Waikato, looking after a couple of parishes, in addition to the focus on continuous improvement projects. 


As a reminder on contact details, your first port of call for any queries should always be your parish accountant.  If you can’t get hold of your them, and your matter is urgent, please reach out to the relevant senior accountant: 

Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki – Ankita Thaper - athaper@trustmanagement.co.nz or 021 221 348, Diocese of Auckland – Priya Singh - psingh@trustmanagement.co.nz or 021 714 341. Should all these avenues fail, please reach out to the Head of Parish Accounting, Marie Nickalls (mnickalls@trustmanagement.co.nz or 021 820 649).


We remain fully focused on your day-day payment and reporting requirements and responding to your questions and working with you in any way we can.  This is our priority as we move through any change and is supported by the new Parish Team Charter which we have shared below. 


 
Accounting System Review

The ongoing system review for Parishes, other TIM clients, and TIM itself is progressing well. The process documentation has been completed, and the needs analysis is nearing its end. Currently, a system capability analysis is underway, with the final decision on a new system expected by the end of November. This review is a critical step to ensure that the chosen solution aligns with the needs of all stakeholders.


The selection of a new system will consider various factors, including functionality, customisation options, and overall cost. Additionally, the new system must address reporting requirements, which will be integrated into the broader organisation data warehousing.  The evaluation process includes exploring new system features that can enhance parish reporting, particularly in areas like cash flow management, to better support informed decision-making.  We’re investigating potential opportunities for the new system to be able to give Parishes more control in areas such as accounts payable and transactional record keeping.


 
Continuous Improvement Projects

New system implementation, when done thoroughly and with an in-depth plan, can take up the better part of 12 months to successfully complete.  In the interim, we are looking at a number of smaller, but no less important, projects to make everyone’s roles just that little bit easier.  This includes (but is by no means limited to):


  • Bank Account Verification – EftSure – we are running a small pilot of parishes before the end of the year to determine if this is the best way to streamline our processes around bank account verification.  EftSure are a third-party provider who have a database of verified suppliers. Where a supplier is not already verified by them, they will undertake the process on our behalf.  This will, in time, remove the need for parishes and Trust Management to liaise with suppliers for bank account support.


  • Accredo Uploads – while we still have the system, it’s worth spending a little bit of time to see if we can make some of our processes more efficient.  We already have an upload schedule for payment batches (which many of you are now successfully using), and we’re now looking into whether we can use similar schedules for other common transaction types (such as sales/hireage invoices, donations, etc).  


  • Sharepoint – sharing files – we will be running a small pilot of parishes before the end of the year to investigate how we can use Sharepoint folders as a method of document / reporting handover. We currently utilise Sharepoint as our internal documentation and collaboration software.  We are able to provide specific folder access to our parish treasurers and administrators, and we’re eager to find ways to use this to streamline the sharing of information between us.


  • Individual Parish Summaries – while parishes are similar in a lot of ways, each of you have elements to your operations that are unique and important to know.  We will be spending the next 6 months pulling together detailed summaries of those unique items for each of our parish clients. This information will include specific accounting considerations, regular / common transactions, all the way down to your administrator hours and how they like to communicate (e.g. email / phone call / text).  The hope is that this will mean efficiency of handovers in the future, and maintenance of key information within the team.


  • Finalisation of the implementation plan for an AP automation software.  


 
Access to Accredo

As noted above, while we are looking at a new accounting system, Accredo will be around for some time yet.  Parish treasurers and other contacts find having access to Accredo useful to find detailed information or to understand transactions themselves.  

We are able to provide read-only access to parish treasurers, in addition to a session with Marie to give you the basics of navigation and data extraction (you will be able to run reports and extract transactional data).


Please email your parish accountant if you’d like to get Accredo Access for your parish, and we’ll set this up for you.


 
Parish Accounting Charter

The parish accounting team spent some time determining our expectations as a team, including work habits, deliverables, behaviours and outcomes.  The result of this is a Parish Accounting Charter (link below) this will form the backbone of all interactions with parishes going forward.  The process started with some self-reflection looking at what our expectations were for ourselves, and what excellent service would look and feel like for our parish clients.  This cascaded down into a set of behaviours that will help us thrive and achieve our purpose, then delving deeper into a set of practical actions that we will use to build to those outcomes.



 
Year-end Processes

Financial year end (31 December) can be a busy time for both the treasurers and parish accountants.  We thought it’d be useful to share some key information about the end of year period to help make life a little easier!


Trust Management Christmas Closedown

Our offices will be closing at midday Friday 20 December2024 and reopening on Monday 6 January 2024. Parish accountants will not be available over this period. If you have any genuinely urgent matters (such as payroll issues) then please call Marie (refer above for contact details). 


Our final payment run for 2024 will be made on Friday 13 December. All invoices (including bank account support and approvals) will need to be with us by 9am Wednesday 11 December. This will be a strict deadline with any urgent payments after this date requiring special approval to go ahead. Our first payment run for the new year will be on Friday 10 January 2025, with payment batches to be with your parish accountant by close of business onTuesday 7 January 2025. Please manage the expectations of your suppliers as we will not be able to make payments when the office is closed.


Payrolls over the holiday period will go out on their usual days, except Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 December, which will be paid on Tuesday 24 December, and Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 January, which will be paid on Tuesday 31 December. Where timesheets are required for payroll, these need to be with your parish accountant by no later than close of business Monday 16 December.  Where timesheets are not received or not available, wages across the holidays will be paid on rostered hours, with corrections / true-up to be performed in the first payroll after the holidays.


New Year Reporting

As in previous years, the first reporting you will receive in 2025 will be the January/February combined report.  These should include February Month and Year to Date results.  Standalone January reports are not prepared as our focus is on finalising the year-end results during January / February.


Information Required 

We will be sending out emails with requests for information in late October. This is information we need to be able to plan work allocations and deadlines over the busy January / February period.  Please read them carefully and let your parish accountant know if you’re unsure about any of the information requested.  Delays in receiving the necessary information (such as your AGM date, 2025 vestry dates, year-end support, or confirmation of transactions) could result in delays in your reporting.


 

Get to know your Parish Accountants -  Meet Raj!

Beach or Snow?  I’m from Sri Lanka and grew up by the beach, so I love swimming and watching the sunset.


Favourite thing about your role?   Helping people who bring the community together.


What was your first job?  I started my career as an Accounts Receivable Officer after graduating from AUT, where I developed my foundational skills in finance and customer relations.


Favourite movie?  The Lord of the Rings. It’s an inspiring story of perseverance and teamwork


Best holiday destination?   The South Island – for me, nothing beats the peacefulness of hiking amidst its stunning landscapes.


Any fur babies or human babies?   Not yet


Share a quote with us: Mahatma Gandhi "You must be the change you wish to see in the world”


 

We hope this has been helpful for you! If you have any questions or would like to have a chat, then please don't hesitate to reach out to your Parish Accountant or Marie.




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