With so many churches and non profit agencies struggling these days to make ends meet, counting every cent is essential and necessary to surviving. When an agency decides to conduct a fundraiser in order to bring in more funds, keeping track of those funds is necessary to satisfy legal, moral and ethical requirements. So, does standard accounting software work well with tracking fundraisers or is church accounting software a better option?
While commercial programs such as Quicken and Peachtree are a good option for most business models, when it comes to churches and other non-profit agencies, there are special tax and financial issues that must be addressed. In order to maintain a non-profit status, tight financial records must be maintained and kept accurately and up to date.
When your church or agency conducts a fund raiser, keeping track of the money that comes in from it can be a tough challenge. With volunteers involved, it can be even tougher to maintain accurate counts. Commercial accounting software programs are not the best to keep track of special events or fund raisers due to the amount of time required to set them up for those categories.
Church accounting software programs are a great place to start, even if you aren't a church. With many of the programs having built in tax information, record keeping abilities for donations and fund raisers, tithes, payroll capabilities and more, the advancement of these programs have come a long way in the last few years.
Even if you aren't sure if a commercial accounting program is right for your needs, you should investigate if a modern church accounting software program will satisfy the needs of your organization.
