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What is Lakewood Church's financial reporting structure and who audits it?
Executive summary
Lakewood Church publicly has financial information tied to IRS Form 990 filings and standalone financial statements that media reported showed about a $90 million budget for the year ending March 31, 2017 (Houston Chronicle reporting of financial statement) [1]. Public databases list Lakewood’s Form 990s and summary filings (ProPublica, Instrumentl), but Guidestar notes the organization is treated like a church that is generally not required to file annual returns with the IRS, complicating the picture of routine public disclosure [2] [3] [4].
1. What reporting exists: a mix of Form 990 data and separate financial statements
Lakewood appears in nonprofit databases where Form 990 documents and financial summaries can be retrieved; ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer lists Lakewood Church and provides access to electronically filed Form 990s where available [2]. Instrumentl likewise produces 990-based reports and notes Lakewood’s most recent IRS filings [3]. Simultaneously, the Houston Chronicle obtained a separate financial statement used to report that Lakewood “spent roughly $90 million” in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017 — a figure subsequently cited across religious and local media [1] [5] [6] [7].
2. Why the public record is uneven: churches and IRS filing rules
Guidestar’s profile for Lakewood notes a key legal wrinkle: “This organization is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church,” and therefore some standard nonprofit transparency channels may not have the same completeness for Lakewood as for non‑church 501(c)[8] organizations [4]. That explains why independent media sometimes rely on internal financial statements or specific filings rather than a continuous, uniform set of public returns [1] [2].
3. What the reported numbers say about budget breakdowns
The Houston Chronicle’s reporting (based on a financial statement the paper obtained) and follow‑on coverage summarized where that roughly $90 million went: about $31.7 million on weekly services and programs, roughly $25.1 million on television ministry, $11.5 million on general/administrative expenses and about $11.9 million on fundraising, with roughly $1.2 million shown for mission/outreach in that year’s statement [1] [5] [6] [7]. These line items are repeatedly cited across Christian and secular outlets when discussing Lakewood’s budget [5] [6].
4. Who audits Lakewood’s finances — available sources do not specify
Available sources do not mention which independent audit firm (if any) performs an annual audit of Lakewood Church’s financials. Databases that host Form 990s and news stories reference financial statements and IRS filings [2] [3] [1] but do not name an external auditor. Guidestar’s entry underscores that Lakewood, as a church, may not be subject to the same standardized filings that would always show an independent auditor’s report [4]. Therefore, the specific auditor’s name and audit frequency are not found in current reporting.
5. Conflicting or varying estimates of revenue and size — treat with caution
Third‑party business-data services give widely different figures: LeadIQ (cited here) estimates annual revenue around $75 million as of August 2025 and Dun & Bradstreet lists very different sales/revenue numbers, reflecting differing methodologies and the difficulty of reconciling public, internal and commercial datasets [9] [10]. Zippia’s profile, for example, shows a much lower annual revenue figure that conflicts with media reporting; such discrepancies signal that secondary databases use inconsistent sources or definitions [11].
6. What to look for next if you need confirmation
To confirm audit arrangements or see the auditor’s report, request the church’s most recent financial statement or audited financials directly from Lakewood Church (official site listed) or consult the actual Form 990 PDFs in ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and Instrumentl’s 990 report, when available; those filings sometimes name outside auditors or reference audited financial statements [2] [3] [12]. If a named auditor or audit opinion is required for a decision, ask Lakewood’s finance office for the most recent audited financial statements — available sources do not provide that auditor’s name [4] [2].
Limitations and competing perspectives: reporting outlets like the Houston Chronicle relied on a financial statement they obtained and present granular budget line items [1]. ProPublica and Instrumentl point readers toward IRS Form 990 data when available [2] [3]. Guidestar highlights a legal exception — churches generally are not required to file Form 990 — meaning publicly available records may be incomplete and causing third‑party commercial services to produce differing revenue estimates [4] [9] [10].