Aplos church accounting software is an accounting and bookkeeping platform targeting churches and nonprofit organizations. It encompasses fund accounting, fundraising tools, and donation management. Other features include membership management, event scheduling, and custom communications. There are seemingly countless bookkeeping solutions available, so figuring out which one is best for you is difficult. You want to streamline the bookkeeping process, track income and expenses, manage budgets, and generate financial reports in compliance with accounting standards and regulations, but need to figure out which tool is the best fit. In this post I make things simple, leveraging my experience as an assistant youth pastor and technical consultant for religious organizations to bring you this shortlist of the best church bookkeeping software.
- QuickBooks allows you to pay employees and contractors by direct deposit or check.
- Many faith-based organizations rely on volunteers to help with their accounting.
- Whether you decide to use Jitasa’s bookkeeping or accounting services for churches, we will provide your ministry with excellent assistance and a team ready to serve you.
- Meanwhile, there are bills to pay, needs to meet, and (often) salaries to be paid.
- PowerChurch offers full-featured accounting software with general ledger, bill pay, income management, payroll processing tax management, donor pledge and giving management, statement generation and printing capabilities.
This easy bookkeeping software reduce the likelihood of errors. You can also save on storage, improve communication, and delegate tasks. Overall, Dext helps churches manage their finances more accurately and speedily. ZipBooks is a bookkeeping system that allows you to access your congregation’s data from anywhere. The system includes payroll, tax preparation, and virtual bookkeeping. You can automate processes with recurring auto-bills, send invoices, and integrate billing into your books.
Get more time for your flock with church accounting software
She currently serves as a business consultant, operations manager, and content strategist at Doubting Thomas Research Foundations’ Afghan Liberty Project, a small non-profit organization. She graduated with an MBA in leadership from Excelsior College. We use this historical data of donations, pledges, programs, and funds to help predict your future income and cash flow.
Software that is easy to use can reduce the need for extensive training and technical support, making it more accessible for churches with limited resources. Many church contribution software systems may offer free trials of their solutions, which can be easy ways to test out if a software is worth the investment. However, these free trials are great for the church that’s on a budget, and wanting to really make sure they don’t buy something that won’t be of much use. When speaking to a church accounting software provider, make sure you ask what sort of free trial they have available. Pricing is an important consideration when choosing church bookkeeping software because it affects the overall affordability of the solution for churches, which often have limited financial resources.
How I Selected the Best Church Bookkeeping Software
There are two main reasons a church should invest in accounting software. This will free you up from spreadsheets and receipts to focus on the work of ministry. The second reason is that, as followers of Christ, we are called to a higher standard. According to Captrust, about 1/3 of Americans are skeptical that charities are spending their funds properly. Church accounting software programs will help you report all your donations and expenses accurately so that anyone who inquires will find you’ve operated with integrity on all fronts. One important difference in how software may (or should) be operated from a church compared to a standard nonprofit organization is tracking member contributions and attendance.
Next, make a list of all of the actions your church must perform on a monthly and yearly basis to keep track of its finances, report how donations are used and file taxes. Also, list extra financial capabilities your church needs, such as the ability to process payroll, maintain a CRM or categorize restricted funds. Then, check to ensure your software offers a plan that is both within your budget and enables you to perform essential actions. QuickBooks Online helps keep your church finances organized in one place, no matter the size of your organization. Whether you’re tracking the expenses of your youth group or monitoring donations from your congregation, you can customize your QuickBooks church accounting software to work for you.
Reports that are tailored and ready to share
Nonprofits such as churches even receive a discount on the software through TechSoup, which is a nonprofit tech marketplace. Some useful QuickBooks features for churches include restricted fund management tools, donation collection and recording tools, the ability to add volunteers and staff members to the software and bank syncing capabilities. QuickBooks for Church offers the ability to tag donor dollars for a committee, program or worship fund. The restricted fund dashboard gives the name of the donor, the ministry or project the donation is intended for, the donor’s contact information and the donation amount. Donors can send restricted funds via credit or debit card, ACH transfers, online or off-line. Expense tagging then allows churches to account for where donor dollars are spent.
So, as you weigh the various accounting solutions for you and your team, consider the lives that may be changed by your decision. Wave boasts an intuitive user experience and is a great option for church leaders looking to dip their toe in the world of financial accounting software. There’s even a free edition of Wave’s invoice software to check out. Churches can also create budgets and ledgers based on individual funds, projects, and ministries.
Wave Accounting stands out due to its free accounting tools. Its free plan offers unlimited income and expense tracking, key reports such as Profit and Loss reports, the ability to add unlimited collaborators, cash flow tracking and an intuitive dashboard. It also offers automated payment reminders, credit card, bank and Apple Pay payments or donations acceptance and a mobile app for depositing checks and finance tracking.
CahabaWorks is a free to use church management system from CahabaCreek Software. This solution was developed with churches in mind, and provides contributions management, fund accounting, payroll and more. It also has the ability to accept online payments and donations from your members. Quicken also offers other premium plans for under $10 per month. These plans have advanced church-specific features, such as calendar/fiscal year budgeting, free same-day online payments, free check generation to any United States address, customizable reporting and advanced tax reports. Quicken’s most affordable plans are appropriate for churches because its expensive plans add primarily non-church features such as rental property reports.
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When choosing accounting software, churches should first determine if the chosen software’s plans fit within their budget. The most affordable plan may not include all the features your church needs. Also, look to see if the chosen software offers a discount for churches and nonprofits. For example, you may have to pay extra for payroll processing.
Lexie was born into a family of pastors and other church leaders. She was trained by her grandfather and worked as an assistant youth pastor in a megachurch in her twenties. Now she runs a peer support group and is the Technical Consultant for her current church, MCC Illiana.
In 2018, 29% of church accounting software buyers surveyed said “replace a dated system” was the top reason they needed new software. Simply put, it may be time to replace your current church accounting systems of choice if you find that it no longer meets your needs as a church. Perhaps you need more users to be able to access the program, or it could be that as your ministry has grown, you need more features. When your accounting program is no longer saving you time but creating extra work for you or your staff, it’s time for a change.
Now is the perfect time to use https://quickbooks-payroll.org/ services to ensure your financial records and policies are set up correctly. Plus, since you likely have a limited team, it helps to outsource your bookkeeping so you can focus on growing your organization and never get behind. The first step in how to do church bookkeeping is to acknowledge that the handling of church funds from beginning to end is an act of worship. Therefore, being a good steward to see that your church’s resources are properly managed and cared for (no matter if it’s for a large or small church bookkeeping) is a top priority.
It can track project expenses and perform in-depth financial planning for projects. Features include time tracking and reports, budget building and estimates, customized quotes (so donors know the need), cost linking to jobs and projects, and reports that show how every donor dollar is spent. Customer service is an important consideration when choosing digital contract signing software because it provides critical support for users when technical issues or questions arise. A reliable customer support team can help users troubleshoot problems, answer questions, and provide guidance on using the software effectively. This can save time and frustration for staff and volunteers, especially those who are not familiar with bookkeeping or accounting principles. It used to be that the main drawback of QuickBooks was its robust set of key features.