Comments on: QuickBooks Non Profit Review

By: michelle

michelle — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:12:10 +0000

hi, i am a CPA providing pro bono managaement advisory services for my Church. i have tried quickbooks pro and it sucks! definitely no audit trail. no c/r or c/d journals, no g/l, yet it can spit out reports. i had to make excel spreadsheets for the journals. since i am not a quickboks and excel whiz, i will recommend the old fashioned one write manual church accounting from Safeguard. many churches use this. church contributors get a quarterly receipt. church has cards, like a for profit business. when checks are written, copy goes on a spreadsheet which serves as cash disbursements journal. i highly recommend safeguard. even CPAs use it. cost is comparable to purchase of software. easy to find audit trail. i was an auditor, accountant, and tax consultant. thank you.

By: Marsha

Marsha — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:21:41 +0000

Thanks, Nate. I’m not sure why this person thought this was true, but am happy to be able to consider another direction!

By: doups3

doups3 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:30:57 +0000

Hey Marsha,

Who is telling you that you’d have to use the online payroll? I’ve never heard that before. I just went to the QuickBooks site to see if I’m missing something, but it looks like you can still use the basic payroll to me. Here’s the page that compares all their payroll products: http://payroll.intuit.com/compare/compare-quickbooks-payroll.jsp. For each edition they offer your standard payroll and then an online version.

Hope that helps.

Nate

By: doups3

doups3 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:22:59 +0000

Hey Anita,

QuickBooks Premier can do everything that QuickBooks Pro can and then some. It’s a step up from Pro if that makes sense. It can do everything you’re talking about, but there is a bit of a learning curve. As always, I’d recommend getting “Running Quickbooks in Nonprofits” By Kathy Ivens and then getting to work!

Nate

By: Marsha

Marsha — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:22:10 +0000

I will be taking over the financial responsibilities from the person who has done our church books for years. Currently we use QB Pro and standard QB Payroll. She has done a good job setting up classes, etc. We also use ServantKeeper, though not to it’s full capacity. After reading much of the above I am more inclined to pursue the possibility using of 2012 QBNP, though I am being told if we do so, we would not be able to use the Standard Payroll any longer, but would be forced to use QB online PR, yet another increase in cost. Is that correct?

By: Anita Cargile

Anita Cargile — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:28:58 +0000

I am looking at Quikbook Premier for our church software…I need to be able to keep track of expexnses..income..contributions from church members..print monthly financial statements..do payroll for (2) paid employees..be able to print w2′s..will Quickbooks Premier be able to do all of this for me? Or will I need to purchase another form such as Quickbooks Pro…
Thanks for your help!
Anita

By: doups3

doups3 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:53:37 +0000

Hey Jim,

I agree with you that some of these programs are getting way too complex. The goal is to meet all the needs of the church while providing the simplest solution. It’s not an easy tasks as the filing requirements for churches continue to get more complex.

I don’t think you’ll go wrong with the QB and Servant Keeper combination. With that in mind, there will still be a bit of a learning curve that you and your staff/volunteers will have to overcome.

I recommend reading that QuickBooks for NonProfits book by Kathy Ivens. Make sure you get the updated 2nd edition. It will answer a lot of your questions.

Best,

Nate

By: doups3

doups3 — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:41:34 +0000

Hey Steve,

Data transfer can be tricky. I’m not exactly sure on your transferring from 2004 to 2012. I think you should be able to do it, but I’d ask the people at QuickBooks first.

Sorry I wasn’t more helpful.

Nate

By: Becca

Becca — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:03:56 +0000

My church is switching to QB online this year. My job is to figure out how to easily generate year-end giving statements. By the comments above it looks like there is not an easy way. My hope is that I don’t need an additional software for this. If I enter each tithe/offering as a sales receipt, isn’t there some statement I can customize to pull these for each customer/donor?
Thanks!

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:10:05 +0000

@ Bob (Oct.17,2011)
Our small church has been using CDM+ since 1996 (from Ver.6 to Ver.9) mostly for accounting, contributions, & limited membership usage. Unfortunately, like our cell phones, the software has gotten much more complicated over the years. I agree with Bob (above) that CDM+ has become “too difficult for most lay people”. As the financial secretary, I’m looking at a change to QB NP and Servant Keeper. The Servant Keeper format appears to be as simple as the old CDM+ Ver.6&7. I’m hoping that the 80-90% popularity of QB is justified. I need programs that don’t intimidate & scare off my helpers.