online banking

by Karen
(Algonac, MI)

A retired businessman thinks our church can save money by using on-line banking to pay our bills.

But we are concerned about a paper trail for audit purposes, reconciling, and we usually keep copies of bills with the Check # and date on them.

I personally pay my bills online, but the bank assigns the check #s and I don't keep a register anymore for reconciling.

Do any other churches use online banking to pay bills? How do they track, reconcile and audit?

Karen Dunlap

Comments for online banking

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Onlikne Banking
by: Anonymous - MN

I have been using online banking to pay bills for a number of years and have found it to be a very good resource.

The bank does assign a check number for each transaction. I print the confirmation which includes the check number and attach the bill to that single page print out.

I then enter the transaction into QBO using Online as the way the bill was paid and enter the check number provided by the bank.

I use the online bill pay that is part of our bank's online application.
Using Bill Pay for Churches
by: Vickey

Many church use online bill pay. BUT you are correct to have your "internal controls" in place first!

I like Plooto for online bill pay for my church bookkeeping clients, because you can set it up with "approvers". It is also much cheaper than most online bill pay software as you only pay a low fee per transaction...no monthly fee.

It also integrates with QBO, so I can attach the bill/invoice for the paper trail you were referring to. If you don't use QBO, I believe you can still attach bills, but would have to ask their support to make sure.

I know you can get free bill pay with many banks, but I would caution you to put some strong internal controls in place before you go that route.

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