I seldom need to refer to the manual because the screens are laid out in a logical fashion, with pick lists where they are useful. And when I’ve called for support, it has always been from a polite person who obviously knows what they are doing and solves the problem quickly. If none of our top picks seem to fit your specific church accounting needs, be sure to check these out. All donations given online are tracked by donor and purpose with zero work required.
PowerChurch Plus pricing starts at a one-time payment of $395 per user. Here’s a brief description of each finance software to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the interface. ACS Purchase Orders automates your organization’s cash-flow planning process to help prevent overspending. She currently serves as a business consultant, operations manager, and content strategist at Doubting Thomas Research Foundations’ Afghan Liberty Project, a small non-profit organization. Churches that want to save money and error-proof their accounting via easy-to-use intelligent automations should consider Zoho Books.
Best for Free Accounting Tools for Startup Churches
It’s a well-rounded solution for religious nonprofits and churches needing church accounting functions with features like event registrations and donation management. Aside from that, Aplos Advanced Accounting, a higher tier, includes budgeting, fixed asset tracking, and income and expense allocation. FlockBase is a web-based church management software you can use to compute payroll, pay your staff and comply with IRS regulations. A fund accounting feature allows you to track your fund balances and ensure that your programs have enough funding. FlockBase also has a robust reporting feature you can use to view balances, funds, and expenses on different levels of your organization. CDM+ is a fund accounting software designed specifically for the unique needs of churches and nonprofits.
Some churches, especially smaller churches, may have many unpaid staff members who will need to utilize the software, and training them on their own schedule can prove to be time-consuming and costly. Typically in a nonprofit, a fund will be in the form of a grant that was awarded to them by the government. The nonprofit will need to prove to the government that the money was spent for it’s intended purpose and not on other areas of need. Funds can also come in the form of large donations, where the donor has asked that the money from the donation be put towards something specific. A balance sheet is a financial statement that provides a snapshot of a company’s financial position at a specific point in time, including its assets, liabilities, and net assets.
Churches vs. Businesses
Aplos also integrates staff payroll, so there’s no need to maintain a separate accounting system for regular (and irregular) paydays. There’s also QuickBooks Online, a slightly simplified version of the desktop program that allows users to log on from anywhere. If you’re working with an external tax professional, QuickBooks Online makes it a lot easier accounting for churches to share your information at tax time. There’s even QuickBooks Online Advanced, which boasts 37% faster invoice processing, according to internal tests by Intuit. Aplos will send you a weekly cash management summary and monthly financial statements to guide your financial health. Securely collect donations and other payments using our payment partners.
- One more notable feature is FreshBooks’ highly customizable invoices.
- Oftentimes, church financial software fits into a bigger picture of the systems and tools you are using in your church on a day-to-day basis.
- Elexio is a church management system you can use to manage your church’s database, ensuring that you have up-to-date information on all your members.
- For organizations with small teams and simple accounting needs.No credit card required.
- With FreshBooks non-profit church accounting software, you have access to more than a simple accounting software.
For example, a small or mid-sized church might not need complicated financial tracking. The best accounting software programs all provide similar features, so when considering which one is best for your business, you need to consider which features are the most important to your situation. This will help you decide which accounting software meets your needs best. Other features you may want to consider include whether the software has a mobile app, how good its customer service is and how well it does with accounts receivable (A/R) and financial reporting. Aplos is our best overall pick because of its flexibility and feature set. It offers church management and financial accounting features in one software.
Is QuickBooks Good for Churches?
If your organization needs to hire someone to manage the books, you might want to consider outsourcing instead. Avoiding new hires can cut down on administrative costs, and it’ll reduce the budget dedicated to church accounting software and training. Small church accounting can be an intimidating task, and most churches can’t hire a full-time accountant. FreshBooks can offer your church solutions to make accounting fast and easy. That way you can spend less time with filling out paperwork for the church fund, and more time keeping the church running. Before long you will see that this is the best choice for accounting software.
You can use Quick Check to print checks for issuance to suppliers, partner organizations, utility companies, and payroll. Powerchurch Plus software also allows you to keep an accurate record of issued checks to ensure that your account stays balanced and has available funds for your checks. Quicken is best for churches needing full-featured premium accounting software on a tight budget.
Church finance software may also include features specific to religious organizations, such as the ability to track tithes and offerings, manage membership information, and generate tax receipts for donors. ACS Payroll handles the special needs of churches and pastors, from housing allowances to insurance. Accommodates multiple cost centers, so pay is charged to appropriate areas. With ACS church accounting software you’ll have everything you need to pay your employees with consistency and accuracy. In its most affordable plan, you can create church member and staff profiles and offer a selection of donation methods, devices and even schedules. You can also track donations on giving dashboards, enter and manage donor pledges and manage restricted funds.
