QuickBooks has multiple versions of accounting software. They don’t have any software that is specifically named “Church accounting software.” They do however have a QuickBooks Nonprofit Edition. This edition is very popular among churches and non-profits. According to several surveys from The CPA Technology Advisor about 70 percent of non-profits use QuickBooks. At least one CPA I have communicated with thinks that this number is closer to 90 percent for churches. In other words, a majority of churches are using this software for accounting purposes. The premium nonprofit version (as opposed to the normal version) would probably be the best to use for your church’s accounting system, although some churches get away with using normal QuickBooks, known as QuickBooks Pro.

Advantages of Your Church Using QuickBooks

The number one advantage of using QuickBooks NonProfit for your church’s accounting is its ease of use. Many people, even those without much of an accounting background, are able to use QuickBooks effectively. A learning curve does exist, but it isn’t as large a curve as trying to learn a specialized church accounting software system.

Another advantage of using QuickBooks is its customer support. When we mention customer support, we are not necessarily talking about the people at Intuit who designed the software (although they are excellent). Chances are you know someone who is already quite familiar with QuickBooks. Imploring them to help you set up and run QuickBooks as your church accounting software might be the best route for your church.

One final advantage that should be mentioned is the QuickBooks Online Payroll option. This service is well worth the cost for most churches. Let’s face it, most church staff don’t really have a clue how payroll works or how time consuming it can be. If you use this online service, QuickBooks will do the hard work for you (direct deposit, W2 calculations, tax help, and customer support for the questions that you’re bound to have). Intuit Online Payroll Easy to Setup and Use. Try Now FREE for 30 Days. QuickBooks has standard payroll software if you’re interested in that as well.

Disadvantages of QuickBooks

**Update** It appears that Intuit has fixed the audit trail problem mentioned below and it is no longer a disadvantage for nonprofits. Several users have even claimed QuickBooks audit trail is among the best: see comment section for further discussion. ***

In the past QuickBooks didn’t leave much of an audit trail in some situations. If an error was made by your church accountant, then he/she could easily reverse the error without leaving any evidence. This is no longer a problem. Errors can be corrected easily, but the software does a great job of leaving an audit trail documenting what actually occurred.

You may be thinking that being able to easily correct errors is something you want in your church accounting system. The downside of this is that it can be easily manipulated. Most church accounting software requires an adjusting entry when an error is made. This leaves what is called an audit trail so that a church auditor, loan officer, or banker can look back and see any adjustments made throughout the year.

A skilled church accountant could easily cook your church accounting books if proper internal controls are not in place. QuickBooks now has these controls in place and is now very safe to use as church accounting software.

One disadvantage of using QuickBooks Professional instead of QuickBooks Non-Profit is that it was originally designed for businesses, not churches. Intuit’s non-profit software will make it easy to support your church’s reporting requirements, but QuickBooks Pro may not support your church’s reporting requirements or terminology. This is especially true if they are not similar to a normal business’s reporting requirements and terminology.

In Review:

• QuickBooks can be used for your church’s accounting (some estimate that 90% of churches are using this software)
• Advantages include ease of use and great customer support ( a lot of people know how to use this software)
• Disadvantages include the fact that this software was originally designed for businesses. This was a larger problem when Intuit didn’t have a special version for not-for-profits.

What makes church accounting so different? Well the main difference is fund accounting. When money is donated or given to a church, the church needs to keep track of it a bit differently than a business would. First of all, a church needs to keep track of member donations for tax purposes. In addition, churches need to keep track of the type of donations in different “funds” or accounts. For example a member may specify that a certain donation is supposed to be used for a specific purpose (this could be for a new church, for missionary purposes, or for an upcoming service project). The church accountants and leaders have to keep track of where the money will be going (to do this, they use funds).

QuickBooks For Churches

Interestingly enough many people don’t know that the most popular church accounting software is QuickBooks. Most new church accountants have heard of QuickBooks before, but they don’t know that Intuit (the makers of QuickBooks) makes a special nonprofit version that works great for churches. You can read more about it in my QuickBooks for Churches review.

Church Management Software

Some people don’t really see a difference between accounting software for churches and church management software. At first, I didn’t really see a difference either, but now that I’ve been writing about and reviewing this software for several years I see some key differences. Management software is designed to manage information about your members. For example you may want to know membership attendance for religious meetings. You’ll probably also need to track personal contact information for each of your members. Sure you could probably keep all of this information in a spreadsheet, but there is software out there that will do all of the hard work for you. Most software will allow church leaders to have a picture of the individual along with all the pertinent information all on one screen. This software can make being a church leader much more manageable.

Example of Church Management Software

Free Church Accounting Software

The old saying goes that “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Well that’s only partially true. The truth is there are some free church accounting software packages available. However, they aren’t as sophisticated or user-friendly as the software that you can purchase. In addition, they may not have all the requirements to meet your needs.

Non-sponsored List of Church Management Software Providers:

Click on any of the links below to read a review about the software (you’ll also find links to each companies’ website).

Church Windows

This company has been making church software since software started being developed. Okay, maybe not that long, but they have been in the business since 1987. They have the friendliest staff and the best customer service (I’ve dealt with quite a few church software companies and have been really impressed by how I was treated at ChurchWindows). Their software is broken up into 6 modules: Membership, Scheduling, Payroll, Accounting, Contribution, and Accounts Receivable. Initially the separate module idea bothered me, but as I deal with more church leaders I find that they all have different needs.

ACS Technologies

ACS has been in this business for a long time. They provide some very high-quality and flashy software. Probably the thing I like best about ACS is how they cater to different sized churches. They have an option for small churches, medium/large churches, and mega churches. This is very good software. This is a larger company so expect to receive all that comes with dealing with a big company: tried and tested software, but occasionally a small customer might fall between the cracks.

Power Church

PowerChurch is another company that has been providing church management software for a long time. They provide a solid program at a great price. As they like to say they “provide the biggest bang for your buck.”

Servant Keeper

This is an interesting church management system solution. One feature that is particularly intriguing is the option to integrate the management software with QuickBooks. Many people prefer to do their accounting on QuickBooks (because that’s how they’ve always done it). This software allows you to manage your church and contributions using QuickBooks as an extension.

Icon Systems

The people at Icon Systems take church management very seriously. They have a licensed CPA on staff that can answer all of your church accounting questions (accounting is where most church leaders run into problems, usually membership management doesn’t cause as much stress because you don’t have standards and regulations that you are required to follow). IconCMO (the software provided by Icon Systems) is based online. The new trend in technology is to move the software online. This makes it so church volunteers can access the information from anywhere they have Internet access. It also means that your church doesn’t have to worry about the technology headaches that comes with upgrading (the tech experts at Icon Systems take care of all this for you).

ChurchTrac

The idea behind ChurchTrac is to provide a low-cost solution for managing your church. The ChurchTrac software is free for your first 100 members. This is great new for those churches that are just starting out and are on extremely tight budgets.

ChurchTrac has also branded itself as the “easy-to-use” church management system. This means that your church will save money in support costs. Many software companies make their living off of providing difficult software programs and then charging a lot of money for support. ChurchTrac goes the other way; they try to make their software as user-friendly as possible so that you’ll never have to bug them. You can read my full review by clicking on the link above.

More church management software reviews to come…

I would be very grateful if others could provide their experience with these church management software programs. If you have experience with any church management program please write about it below (in the comments section). This will really help out people looking to find programs for their church. You would be surprised at the number of people looking for help. Take a few minutes to serve your fellow man. You’ll be blessed for it!

Please include the following information.

Name of program used:

Years using it:

Approximate size of your church:

Your experience with the software (Did it save you time?) (Was it hard to get up and running?) (Would you recommend it to a friend?) (How user friendly is it?):

Anything else you think will help others who are searching for software to manage their church:

Note: If you work for one of these companies and would like to get your logo placed next to your review, then please contact me.

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.

their name. I’ve looked at some of their creations first-hand and have been very impressed. However, what follows will attempt to be an unbiased review of Church Windows.

The Good

Experience. This group has been doing accounting software for churches for a long time, since 1987. That is before the Internet was even being used on a mass-level. This means that their product has had the time necessary to work out any quirks that so often come with new software. It also means that a lot of people know how to use it and there will be good forums and self-help guides available.

Another great thing about Church Windows is that it comes as a complete package or as individual modules. Buying individual modules can be extremely difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. A lot of church accountants have no idea what it is they need for their accounting system. For these people it is nice to buy a complete package and know they are getting everything they will need.

On the other hand it is nice for those people who are only looking for a specific feature such as membership tracking, payroll, or accounting to be able to just buy the individual module they need. These people can save a lot of money and confusion by not going with the whole package.

Pricing: This is probably not Church Window’s greatest strength, but it is a strength nonetheless. Depending on exactly what you need, you might be able to find a cheaper option. However, usually when you pay a little more, you get a little better quality. Overall this software is priced very competitively.

Classes: Church windows is a pretty intuitive program; however, to get its full use you may want to take some of the classes they offer online. The fact that they even offer these classes is a huge bonus. A lot of people end up buying expensive accounting software for their church and end up not really knowing how to use it.

The Not So Good

I should probably qualify this with the fact that I’m easily bothered by website checkout processes. A lot of the time I wondering what products I’m getting and at what price. I’m also often left wondering what I’ll be paying for shipping. Some people say that if you have questions you should call them; well, I for one don’t want to call them. If I wanted to chat with someone then I wouldn’t be shopping for the church accounting software on the Internet.

With that introduction, I must admit I was confused by the Church Windows check-out process. Take a look at it below.

Church Windows

I’m not sure how much you can see from this picture, but let me explain why it bothered me. First of all at the top it says “Standard Integrated Packages” $695. At this point, I’m wondering what I’m getting for the $700. After thinking about it a while, it looks like I’m getting the membership and contribution software, but that wasn’t readily apparent to me.

Now, at the bottom of the picture you will notice they are offering additional options. These always make me nervous because I have no idea if I need this stuff. This one made me especially nervous because it has Accounts Receivable (add $150). At this point I’m thinking, “Wait a minute, isn’t accounts receivable part of Accounting?”. Then I really start wondering what comes in the accounting package. Is it missing something else that I might really need?

One thing that rubbed me a little the wrong with with Church Windows was the fact that they make you pay for the online classes. I realize that customer support isn’t cheap, but a lot of companies these days will offer free pre-recorded classes for people who buy their products.

Church Windows also charges what is called a support fee. This is pretty standard amongst software providers, but it is something you should really know about before purchasing your church accounting software. Basically you have to pay $100-400 a year in order to get all of the latest updates and be able to call them when you have questions. Again, I realize that customer service isn’t cheap, but some customers may be annoyed having to pay $400 a year just to keep the software working correctly.

In review, Church Windows is a reliable software that has been around for quite a while. Like most quality products, they have lots of customer support. They also have a great option that will allow you to buy one module or a complete package. Their check-out process is a tad confusing and they will try to hit you up with customer service fees (gotta stay in business somehow). Overall a product that you can’t go wrong with, if you have the money.

Most accountants don’t think about church software programs because they eat, drink, and sleep GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). If they aren’t enamored with GAAP, then they dream of the IRS Tax Volumes. What about those of us who just need to know about church accounting? The good news is you need not be an expert in GAAP or the IRS code to handle your Church’s accounting.

Back to the Basics

Before accounting became all about following rules and regulations, accounting was used to track key information. This information could be about anything. A farmer may have used accounting to track how much milk his cows were producing. A banker to track the money going in and out. An army general to track casualties. This was accounting in its most beautiful form. So useful, and so uncomplicated. Unfortunately in order to achieve comparability amongst different companies, accounting has become tainted. The numbers have to be squeezed so that they are in accordance with certain standards. They become useless, and this is when accounting becomes GAAP .

Church accountants would do well to remember that the main reason they are doing accounting is to track the useful information of their church. The good news is that you, the church accountant, get to decide what is useful. It may be church attendance, church donations, number of conversions, etc..

Fund Accounting

Churches require fund accounting. To understand fund accounting, it is helpful to understand what the word “fund” means. Fund = a reserve of money set aside for some purpose. Fund does not mean a separate bank account. In fact you can have one bank account with an unlimited amount of funds.

Why do Churches Require Fund Accounting?

When you give your money to Wal-Mart in exchange for goods you have no say over what Wal-Mart does with that money. However, when you give your money to a Church, you can tell them that your money should go towards missionary work, feeding the homeless, or building new churches. In fact, most churches have a missionary fund, a service fund, and a construction fund.

The Need for Church Accounting Software

Once you understand that Wal-Mart’s accounting is different than a Church’s you realize that special software is needed for church accounting. Church accounting software should make fund accounting simple and easy.

We here at The Church Accounting Software Guide want to remind everyone that we do not endorse one software or system over another. We simply want to provide information so that it will be easier for you to choose a church accounting or management system. Today we provide a free review of “Clarity Accounting” –www.clarityaccounting.com

**Update 9/22/2011

It appears that Clarity accounting is now Kashoo accounting. They changed their name for branding purposes. You can still use this software for church accounting purposes, but it isn’t specifically geared towards churches.

First of all, you might note a few good things right from the get go: (1)the website is an http(s) (that “S” is important and means that the company spent the money to be more secure–a good sign (2) they are secured by Geotrust and (3) the website is professional and easy to navigate. If you see these three things on any online website, it is extremely unlikely that you will be scammed.

Next, Clarity offers free church accounting software for 30 days (a demo version). This is a sign that they are confident in their church accounting software. This is the exact opposite of those “miracle weight loss pages” that are 100 pages long, and keep saying that they will tell you the secret to weight loss once you get to the bottom of the page (in the meantime you have to read all their propaganda, usually in the form of success stories). I’m sorry if I’m getting on a tangent here, but I can’t stress this enough, please avoid sites that are all propaganda and offer quick and easy solutions.

Clarity’s 30-day free church accounting software trial is better than most because they don’t require a credit card number before you can use the trial. Many companies give you a free trial, but ask for your credit card number in hopes that you will forget. Once your trial time is up, they start charging you (very annoying).

Functionality

The Good: Keep in mind we were using the demo version as we tested their online software. The software has all the financial accounting information any church would need. The software is very intuitive. When you tell the software to do something, it does! The layout and reports are very aesthetically pleasing.

The Questionable: When I clicked on the graphical reports, it kept sending me to some random web page that hand nothing to do with Clarity Accounting (a little frustrating, but again, maybe this is the demo version).

Keep in mind that this is online church accounting software which comes with the benefits of being able to use it anywhere, but also the security issues that come with online software.

We advise that you do some of your own research before making any purchase of church accounting software but Clarity Accounting appears to be a good product for a low price of $10 a month.

Feel free to sound off on any Church Accounting Products in the comment box.

We’ve said a few times on this site that not all church accounting software is built equally. Some software has more features than you or your church would ever care for, while other software may not have what you need. Be careful when purchasing church software because some software comes in a one package has it all deal while other software only does specific procedures.

Church Management Systems Versus Church Accounting Software

It turns out that some software exists that does just about everything for your church. These software packages are usually entitled “Church Management Software.” These management softwares take care of membership issues (attendance, converts, etc.). They also manage the finances at your church (offerings, taxes, etc.). We’ve even seen some church management software that has features that track upcoming events in your church–choir rehearsals, dinners, and church services.

On the other hand we have seen websites that sell their wares separately. For example they sell what they call a “People Suite” that will keep track of membership or a “Financial Suite” that keeps track of finances. It is important to note that these companies are selling them separately: if you buy the people suite you aren’t getting any financial suite products. This can be compared to buying Microsoft Word separate from Microsoft Excel. They don’t exactly do the same thing.

So our word of caution is to make sure that what your buying performs all of the functions you want it to. We tend to lean towards the One-Package-Does-it-all solutions, but we can see some reasons for buying separately (perhaps better functionality).

Not all church accounting software is built equally. Some software comes with a lot of features and technology while others are more basic. We want to make sure that you don’t buy software that your church’s computers can’t handle so we bring you the following information.

Before you make your purchase, make sure to double, nay triple check to verify that your computer(s) meet at least the minimum requirements for the software. There is nothing worse than spending money on software, returning back to your computer, placing the CD in the computer, and then finding out that your computer can’t handle the software. Please make sure you meet the minimum requirements for any software you buy for your church.

Unfortunately many companies that offer church software fail to place the minimum requirements on their websites. If you find yourself in this situation, then you have three options: (1) Gamble and purchase the software anyway hoping that your computers will have what it takes–not recommended (2) Contact the company via phone or email (3) Go to a different website. Gambling is never recommended

After searching the Internet, we’ve found that most church accounting software requires at least 64-256mb of ram. This may not seem like a lot to some people, but many churches don’t have a big budget to buy top end computers.

We hope we have saved you some time in your quest to purchase church software. Feel free to leave any comments about information you may have acquired.

Accounting for the church’s money is a tough issue. Most church leaders tend to separate the money issue from spiritual issues like praying and attending church. However, it is important to remember that money is necessary to build up the Kingdom.

Because money is sometimes a sensitive area within the Church, it is important to assure that your members’ donations are being accounted for. Church accounting software can help you keep better track of where these donations are going.

You can use church accounting software to give annual or semi-annual statements to your members. Giving these statements increases trust with your members and can lead to further donations. You can also use your church management software to track your expenditures. Most software systems will display this information in a way that will allow you to make better decisions…

Decision making is critical when spending members’ contributions!