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.

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.

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.