The Relationship between Church Planting Phases and Disclosure of Tanzanian Local Churches: The Mediating Effect of Accounting Standards Adoption

Abstract

This study aimed to examine whether the adoption of accounting standards at the local church level mediates the relationship between church planting phases (surveying, preparing, sowing, cultivating, and reaping) and church financial disclosure. The study used a deductive research approach in gathering data from 374 church accountants, pastors, and evangelists in Tanzanian local churches. Hypotheses were formulated based on Stewardship Theory and Institutional Theory. Self-administered questionnaires that respondents could easily complete were used in a convenient sample. Smart-PLS version 4.0 was used to evaluate the data for measurement and structural model evaluations.
This findings revealed that planting phases negatively relates to financial disclosure of the local churches mediated by accounting standards adoption, indicating as planting phases increase, the financial disclosure tends to decrease due to poor adoption of accounting standards. This suggests that the more emphasis or progress there is in surveying, preparing, sowing, cultivating, and reaping, the less effectively proper financial disclosure is applied or adhered to due to failure to adopt accepted accounting standards.
The study offers guidance to non-trading organizations, including churches, on how to establish a user-friendly financial disclosure practice. Additionally, it educates Christian denominations on the value of accounting standards adoption to enhance proper local churches' financial disclosure. By including church planting phases, this study extends the arguments on churches financial disclosure and it is the first one to combine accounting and church planting in Tanzanian context.

Keywords: Church planting, local churches, accounting standards adoption, Tanzania, financial disclosure.