church central office - partner

What church central office - partner does

Church Central Office is a privately held, bootstrapped outsourced accounting services firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, that operates as a fully remote organization. Founded by Jeff Hightower, a former executive pastor from the Jackson, Mississippi area, the company specializes exclusively in providing accounting and financial management services to mid-sized US churches with annual budgets of $1M-$10M. Its core offering is a fully outsourced accounting department — including monthly accounting, weekly bookkeeping, reconciliations, payroll, accounts payable, and remote CFO support — priced from $3,500/month. A parallel Remote CFO service (from $2,500/month) is sold to churches that retain in-house accounting staff but need strategic guidance, and a newly launched Board Ready Financial Reports tier (from $250/month) serves churches wanting visual board-ready reporting on top of existing systems.

The company's service delivery is built on a third-party SaaS stack consisting of QuickBooks Online as the core accounting system, Bill.com for accounts payable automation, and Ramp for credit card processing and payments, supplemented by Kajabi for content and website delivery. Differentiation is positioned around church-specific expertise: the team is composed of former executive pastors, church accountants, and public accountants who claim exposure to financial practices across numerous churches that no in-house accountant could replicate. Additional proprietary service elements include weekly ministry-level budget reporting and customized visual board reports.

Go-to-market is consultative and sales-led, beginning with a seven-question form and a 30-minute discovery call (schedulable via Calendly) before any payment is requested. The marketing strategy relies heavily on content — a 50+ article blog, a monthly email newsletter targeted at executive pastors, ten free downloadable tools and calculators, and co-sponsorship of The Unstuck Church Report — to generate inbound leads from the executive pastor persona. Pricing is subscription-based with monthly billing, and all customers disclosed (Westminster Pres, Zootown Church, FaithLife, Calvary, Lake Bowen Baptist, Lifepoint Church, CrossPoint Community Church) are mid-market US churches. The company has not raised external funding and operates without disclosed parent, subsidiary, or institutional investor relationships.

Name

church central office - partner

Legal name

Church Central Office

Website

https://churchcentraloffice.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Church Central Office is a bootstrapped, fully remote outsourced accounting firm that provides end-to-end accounting, remote CFO, and board-ready financial reporting services exclusively to mid-sized US churches with $1M-$10M annual budgets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Church Accounting & Financial Management Services

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Local Congregations & Worship Communities (Churches, Mosques, Temples, Synagogues) (BPAGAJAA)

Keywords

• Outsourced church accounting
• Church financial management
• Remote CFO services
• Ministry financial reporting
• Church bookkeeping services

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlotte

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Outsourced Accounting Department: Full outsourced accounting department replacement service including monthly accounting, weekly bookkeeping, monthly reconciliations, payroll, weekly accounts payable, and remote CFO support. This is the flagship service targeting churches looking to replace full or part-time accounting staff.
2. Remote CFO Services: Financial guidance and support for churches with existing accounting staff. Includes financial systems audit, implementation and training, best practices, and monthly CFO calls.
3. Board Ready Financial Reports: Visual analytics and reporting service for churches with existing accountants who desire board-ready monthly and annual reports. Includes QuickBooks data transformation into visual reports.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Church Central Office provides outsourced accounting and financial management services exclusively for churches. Its core offerings include a full outsourced accounting department (monthly accounting, weekly bookkeeping, payroll, accounts payable, remote CFO), standalone remote CFO services for churches with existing staff, and board-ready visual financial reports. Services are delivered remotely by a team of former executive pastors, church accountants, and public accountants.

Product overview

Church Central Office is an outsourced accounting services provider specifically for churches, offering three core service tiers: Outsourced Accounting Department (starting at $3,500/month) for full end-to-end accounting with dedicated remote CFO, Remote CFO (starting at $2,500/month) for strategic financial guidance alongside existing staff, and Board Ready Financial Reports (starting at $250/month) for visual financial reporting. The company also provides a suite of free resource tools including calculators (Zero Based Budget Tool, Operational Reserves Calculator, Staffing Budget Calculator, Staff to Attendee Ratios Calculator, Staffing Compensation Assessment Tool), templates (Basic Budget Template, Annual Budgeting Template, Job Description Template), and educational content (Contractor vs. Employee Quick Test, Quarterly Financial Budget Review, Executive Pastor Blog, Monthly Newsletter). All services are designed specifically for churches with annual budgets of $500,000 to $10 million, led by former executive pastors and church accountants.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Outsourced Accounting Department Full end-to-end outsourced accounting service for churches, replacing existing accountant or bookkeeper with dedicated remote CFO support. Includes monthly accounting, weekly bookkeeping, monthly reconciliations, payroll, weekly accounts payable, leadership reports, monthly meetings, and weekly staff reporting at ministry level. Starting at $3,500/month.
• Remote CFO Financial guidance and support service for churches keeping existing accounting staff but seeking strategic oversight. Includes financial systems audit, implementation and training, best practices, and monthly CFO calls. Starting at $2,500/month.
• Board Ready Financial Reports

Quantifiable outcome

• Cost savings: less than half the cost of in-house California CFO ($10,000/month in-house vs CCO solution)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and supporting.

• The Unstuck GroupflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 December 2022Co-sponsor of The Unstuck Church Report (Q4 2022, Q1 2024). Jeff Hightower contributes exclusive insights on church finance topics to each quarterly report. Provides thought leadership content and brand visibility in church leadership community.
• QuickBooks OnlinecoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary accounting software platform integration. Church Central Office transforms QuickBooks data into visual reports and uses it as the foundation for outsourced accounting services. All client church data flows through QuickBooks Online for processing and reporting.
• Bill.comcoreTechnology or IntegrationAccounts payable automation platform used for church client integrations. Church Central Office handles systems integration projects including Bill.com setup for seamless payable processing.
• RampsupportingTechnology or IntegrationCredit card processing and payments integration with QuickBooks Online. Used for ministry-level spending accounts and credit card management for church clients.
• CrossPoint Community ChurchcoreOthersCase study partner in Modesto, CA. Long-term engagement involving systems integration, accounting process redesign, and ongoing outsourced accounting services. Jeff Hightower and team helped hire and onboard Pastor of Operations and audit existing systems.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CapinCrouse: CapinCrouse is a national CPA and advisory firm exclusively serving nonprofits, churches, and faith-based organizations. It provides audit, tax, and outsourced accounting services to the same mid-sized church segment and represents the closest professional-services competitor to Church Central Office.
• Breeze Church Management: Breeze is a church management system with people, giving, and reporting modules used by mid-sized churches. Its financial reporting features overlap with CCO's Board Ready Financial Reports tier, and it targets the same $1M-$10M budget segment.
• Icon Systems: Icon Systems (IconCMO) is a church management platform offering membership, contributions, and accounting features. It competes for the same mid-sized church accounting and reporting wallet share as Church Central Office.
• Tithely: Tithely offers church giving, donor management, and an expanding suite of administrative and financial tools for churches. It targets the same executive pastor buyer and competes for the same software/services budget that CCO addresses through outsourced accounting.
• Aplos: Aplos provides accounting and donor management software specifically designed for churches and nonprofits. While CCO delivers outsourced accounting services and Aplos delivers software, both compete for the same church finance budget and address the same pain of generic tools not fitting ministry needs.
• Jitasa: Jitasa provides outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services specifically for nonprofits and churches. Its vertical specialization, subscription model, and target customer overlap make it a near-direct competitor in the outsourced church accounting space.

Broad incumbents

• Pushpay: Pushpay is an established church engagement and giving platform that has expanded into church management and financial reporting. It serves the same mid-to-large church buyer as Church Central Office and increasingly overlaps on financial dashboards and ministry reporting.

Others

• ChurchLaw & Tax / Christianity Today Advisor: ChurchLaw & Tax is a leading information and advisory resource for church leaders covering legal, tax, and financial matters. While not a direct competitor, it occupies overlapping attention from the same executive pastor audience and shapes how churches think about outsourced finance.

Emerging players

• Pilot.com: Pilot provides outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services primarily to startups and SMBs. While not church-specific, its subscription-based remote bookkeeping model is structurally analogous to CCO's Outsourced Accounting Department offering and represents the template CCO is replicating for the church vertical.
• Bench (by Automat): Bench provides subscription-based outsourced bookkeeping and financial reporting to SMBs. Its recurring revenue model with bundled software plus human accountant service mirrors CCO's structural approach, though Bench targets general SMBs rather than the church vertical.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/church-central-office

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about church central office - partner