Welcome to the Church Accounting Software Guide. In order to better serve you, I've decided to start letting you email me directly with your questions about what type of software will work best for your church or non-profit organization. For those of you who are new to this whole idea of church or non-profit accounting and are feeling a bit overwhelmed, feel free to email me as well. I can provide you with some resources to get you started.
It’s pretty simple. You email me information about your church (see below for more details on what information you should include) and I email you back with the software package(s) that will be the best fit for your church or non-profit.
For first time visitors to this site, I suppose I should explain who I am so you realize you are getting informed advice. My name is Nate Waddoups and I have a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Accountancy from a religious school (which also happens to be ranked in the top 5 best accounting schools). In addition to my training in school I've spent three years working directly in the church finance trenches—of course my church would ask me to manage the finances because of the accounting degree. I’ve done hours and hours of research and experimenting with the different church accounting or management packages available. The truth is most of the software packages available are pretty good, but they all have different features and depending on what your needs are you may or may not need all of these features.
For those of you who want some help, send me an email at churchaccountant@gmail.com and give me some basic information about your church. I’ll get back to you with my recommendations within 24 hours (unless it's a weekend).
Below are some items you might want to share in your email.
Number of Members in Your Church:
Number of People Managing your Church’s Finances:
Experience of People Managing your Church’s Finances: Do they understand basic accounting principles? Do they know anything about accounting for non-profits?
Does your church already have an accounting system in place? If so, which one?
Are you looking for software to manage membership? Or do you just want a church financial software package to manage contributions?
Feel free to send me any other information you think will be helpful.
Always remember that church donations are sacred and should be managed carefully. In addition you’ll need to be in conformance with IRS section 501(c)(3) to be tax-exempt. The right church accounting programs will help you be in compliance. Note that software does not take the place of a licensed tax CPA or lawyer.
Am thrilled to know that there is a software to help in managing church fund and am interested in having one for our church.
I am the church leader.
Church Name: Peaceway Baptist Church.
Address: 12/14, Audu Street, Off Association Avenue, Ikotun, Lagos, Nigeria
Number of Members: 140 (including children)
Number of People Managing our Church’s Finances: 5
Experience of People Managing our Church’s Finances: Yes, they have and understand basic accounting principles.
Do they know anything about accounting for non-profits? No
Does your church already have an accounting system in place? No
Are you looking for software to manage membership? Or do you just want a church financial software package to manage contributions? Both will be of benefit to us.
Here in Nigeria, Churches are still exempted from paying tax, anything could happen in the future
Sam
We are a church of 190 members I was in accounting 35 years ago, before computers I have set up a manual system using a ledger and then posting those totals to an excel spread sheet to show monthly, and YTD expense and compare to Budget amounts. We track giving by regular offering and specials We use a manual system for individual giving. I would like something that we could post to and then get the summary we need each month. any recommendations
Thanks
Tom
Hey Reverend Markwood,
For what you are looking at I would probably recommend the QuickBooks non-profit edition. It’ll do what you’re asking in a jif.
Best,
nate
Greetings,
We are a brand new church. We have Quickbooks pro 2007. We have about 100 people. We have applied but as yet not confirmed 501c3. We have some accounting experience on QB2007. Can you make a recomendation?
Thanks for your time.
Dan Leavitt
The Gathering
Hey Dan,
Thanks for commenting. I’m not sure if you are looking to upgrade, but you can probably make due with QB 2007. There is a book called “Running QuickBooks in NonProfits” by Kathy Ivens that will get you started up. If you have the money, then I would recommend upgrading to QB 2010 Non-Profit edition. It is geared towards nonprofits and has an example non-profit organization that you can imitate. You can find out more about it on my most recent review of QuickBooks 2010 non-profit for churches. It has a few quirks, but it is one of the best software packages out there for church accounting. It might be the best option for your team since you are already using QB.
Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions.