The Steward's Prophet

Finance for Faith Communities

a project of Congregational Finance LLC -- Rev. Karen McArthur, editor

Entire contents
© 2007-2012
Rev. Karen McArthur
Please inquire for permission to reprint any part of this website.

The Steward's Prophet
PO Box 80035
South Dartmouth, MA 02748

How can technology help you
(or hinder you)
with your financial reporting needs?

Software should help you to provide transparent, up-to-the-minute reports for the congregation, leadership, and staff, as well as for any external reporting requirements, such as grant reporting. It should be efficient to use, both in terms of cost and training. It should balance controls with ease-of-use.

Checklist for church financial software -- can the software:

• Use your own chart of accounts
  
• Track spending within each category of net assets, including all temporarily restricted funds
• Generate itemized expense reports
• Keep track of all payments to independent contractors
• Record all payroll data
• Print checks
• Track spending for grants
• Produce e-mailable reports
• Use passwords to protect data and keep previously entered data secure?

Some software is easily customizable for use in churches. For example, QuickBooks Pro can easily track each income or expense transaction in three ways:

• by income/expense account,
• by fund (unrestricted, flower fund, music fund, capital fund, etc.),
• and by grant.

It also has memorized transactions, customizable reporting and integrated payroll reporting.