Church Accounting Software

by Michael

Question regarding church fund accounting software

Question regarding church fund accounting software

I am the treasurer to a small church of about 80 members, and I wanted to purchase software that would specialize in fund accounting.

I am new to accounting and was looking at "Church Windows" as well as "PowerChurch". Is there any you would recommend that won't bust our wallet but at the same time do it's job.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Vickey's Response

I think Church Windows or Power Church may be a little too much a church your size.

We use at my church which is about the same size as yours.

I love it and it has worked out perfectly for us.

I like the bank integration feature. We can import our transactions and then simply assign one of our accounts in our chart of accounts to import them into our register.

It is cloud based which we like as it gives us peace of mind that our accounting data is backed up onto a secure location each night. If our church computer crashed, we could simply log into Aplos from another computer and keep working...however, some people do not care for an online option.

So looking forward to other people's recommendations on this subject!

Comments for Church Accounting Software

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Link FreeChurchAccounting Spreadsheets to Shepherdbase?
by: Vickey

Edwin,
That would be wonderful! If you do figure out a way to do that, please let me know. Very excited about the prospect :-)
Sheperds Program
by: Edwin

Upon your previous recommendations we have started to used the Sheperd's database, it does works well although the financial side has to be kept separately for now. You are also abled to link the excel with access to help. Our plans is to extract info from access into the Free Church accounting software. Now that would be great, will add instructions later...
Great church accounting program
by: Anonymous

I researched lots of programs when we decided to purchase something for our small church. We found that PowerChurch meets all the requirements for a full G/L package for accounting, and meets all federal guidelines as well. It was VERY reasonable to purchase in comparison to some other software. I highly recommend it.
tried Aplos Software
by: Maureen

I would highly recommend Aplos Software. It's easy to use for the person with limited/no accounting experience but also does everything necessary to run the church books. There are a lot of safety features that keep a person from making a mistake when entering data. Would recommend Aplos to any new or small to medium sized church or church plant.
Love Power Church ... so far
by: Anonymous

I am about 18 mos. into my position taking care of all the finances at our church.

Peachtree was the program of choice when I got here, and I purchased a new version, when permitted, because so much of the info. was already in and could be transferred to the new version. However, I quickly learned that it is necessary to have software geared toward Church Accounting to do it properly and get proper reports that can be mailed to contributors.

We purchased Power Church at the beginning of this year, it is now the end of Feb. and I am loving it! There is a lot to figure out - they call reports different things than I would call them, but it is pretty easy to figure out which is which if you just experiment a little. I have a pretty good background with training and experience in bookkeeping/accounting, but I have been saying since I arrived and saw the chart of accounts, that I need a crash course in Church Accounting, which is the reason I was searching today and found this site.

The Church Directory was beautiful this Jan. The info. was loaded for each parishioner in the Membership portion of Power Church, and then Power Church made a beautiful report out of it with the push of a button!

Each person's info. was also now in there, waiting for me when I wanted to post contributions - just had to link the contribution module to the name. Great!

I, too, am thinking that maybe Vicki is the answer to my prayers and pleads for help. I plan to purchase the books and read them, and look forward to viewing and participating with this site in the future.

Maybe this is the answer to my prayers!
Software
by: Edwin

As a treasurer at the church we have been using MS Office, it is very time consuming but it does work. The hardest is trying to link all the reports together...
CDM+
by: Anonymous

I am new at church bookkeeping but there is a program that was written by a church pastor called CDM+. It is very easy to set up and use and they are very helpful.
PowerChurch
by: Anonymous

We have been using PowerChurch for about 2 years now. It works well in combining the contribution., membership, payables, payroll and general account and is easy to use. I actually recommended it to my sister for her church to use.
Software
by: Janice

We have about 200 active members and use Church Windows which has 5 modules which you can subscribe to separately. If I had a voice in decision, I don't know if I would go with this software again. The Membership module does not provide adequate reports; we are always doing spreadsheets and rekeying info because it is easier. Also, accounts payable is not automated like you would have with QuickBooks.

I would definitely try the 30 day free trial before purchasing. Just my thoughts, Janice

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