Quickbooks for a church?

[tacks]

I am setting up a church with Quickbooks software (Fund Accounting). I don't know whether i should purchase 'Pro' for approx $160 or 'Non-Profit' for $260. (It's the churches money, not mine.)

I have a lot of experience with Quickbooks for profit companies. And my initial thought that I could easily create and memorize most any kind of report using regular QB. But now i'm wondering if it's better if the church spends the extra one hundred bucks. I'm wondering if QB Non Profit has some perks.

The church is in somewhat of a bad way and the software they are now using is crap. I want to get this rolling ASAP.

The church has no payroll and is located in the East coast of the United States. Yearly income/donations is approximately 350K.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

[outwest]

Pro will do..

Non profit has the GAAP format chart of accounts which nobody will understand.

Use classes for the general fund, missions, building and benevolances to track the funds. Use sub accounts of the checking to track balances. When a check is written for missions: use missions subaccount of checking and missions class.

Setup each donor as a customer, deposit the contributions with the customer name logged and the income account as contributions. No, don't use invoices just go directly to make deposits and enter.

Hit the private message above and I'll give you contact info to followup.

[DMICPA]

QB Pro

I have found that I have been able to adapt QB Pro to all my clients. I have in the past used software packages that were $5,000-6,000.

Once QB hit the market I found it easy to get done what I needed to do.

Use QB Pro, it will work fine

[MAJ]

Quickbooks for Church

First, Check with Quickbooks directly to see if they offer discounts for the non-profits.

I know the Catholic churches can buy MS Office 2007 Pro for $70 WITH software assurance. Symantec offers similar discounts on their products.

Can't hurt to check with Quicken directly.

Let me know what they say - I can use that information in the future.

MAJ.

[Lion]

40%

Intuit has a special on their website for 40% off on certain QB products, I think with a year of some months of free support included. See what that does to the pricing differential on the two products you're comparing. I think it ends about 21 February, though, so hurry.

[John of PA]

QB Non Profit better if audited

Is your non profit audited (CPA audit), if so that GAAP Chart of Accounts is probably the better choice, it may help keep the audit fees down. QB NonProfit is actually QB Premier with the Non Profit chart of accounts chosen. I use QB Non Profit for the non-profit I do thats audited and it works well.

[tacks]

Thanks

Thanks to all who've responded.

[tacks]

Setup each donor as a customer, deposit the contributions with the customer name logged and the income account as contributions. No, don't use invoices just go directly to make deposits and enter.

Hit the private message above and I'll give you contact info to followup.

Outwest,
Thanks for providing this helpful approach. I joined two Quickbooks forums and they said pretty much the same. And appreciate you offering your contact info. I might ask you a question if i get stuck.

And by the way, yes, I purchased 'Pro.' I looked at 'Premier Non Profit' very closely and did a lot of research. I determined that it would be an extra expense of 170 dollars which would provide little if any benefit to this Church. I imagine that 'Premier' might provide benefit to some users who don't want to pay an accountant.

[tacks]

MAJ,
Looking for QB discounts is a good idea. But unfortuantely i've already made the purchase. Thanks all the same.

[tacks]

Is your non profit audited (CPA audit), if so that GAAP Chart of Accounts is probably the better choice, it may help keep the audit fees down. QB NonProfit is actually QB Premier with the Non Profit chart of accounts chosen. I use QB Non Profit for the non-profit I do thats audited and it works well.

Hey John,

Thanks very much for responding and sharing your experience.

You bring up a very good point.

No, the Church is not 'audited.' But if they were to be audited i think that a CPA, like myself, could produce audited Financial Statements using the 'fund accounting' system that they're presently using. (i'm hardly an expert on 'Fund Accounting.' I haven't seen it since i took the CPA exam)

I have not doubt that QB Premier Non Profit does, like you say, work well. In fact i believe that after all is said and done my Church client would be very happy with it (any version of QB would be a vast improvement).

But many professionals, myself included, have concluded that Premier's extra features simply are not necessary for a Church. It's not the worst choice but not, IMO, the best either.

[PIGLEE]

I do two small churches and one fairly large organization, and Quick Books works just fine. I just ordered a book, (recommended on another forum) from Amazon.com. It looks good, but have not had a chance to really look at it yet. It is "Running QuickBooks in Nonprofits" by Kathy Ivens. It is a 499 page book that was only 23.07. Looks like a good resource book, and could be helpful to someone starting out doing nonprofits. I want to give it a good look after tax season.

[Lion]

Sleeter Group

The Sleeter Group publishes a book on using QB for non-profits, runs seminars on that topic, etc. Their web site is Sleeter.com

[John of PA]

Yes if it aint' broke

And I am always for applying the common sense procedure, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I agree an upgrade to QB Premier should be justified.

[tacks]

I just ordered a book, (recommended on another forum) from Amazon.com. It looks good, but have not had a chance to really look at it yet. It is "Running QuickBooks in Nonprofits" by Kathy Ivens. It is a 499 page book that was only 23.07. Looks like a good resource book, and could be helpful to someone starting out doing nonprofits. I want to give it a good look after tax season.

I've also read on other forums that Kathy Iven's book is excellent for non profits. I've seen her recommended frequently.