Best Church Accounting Software 2024

church bookkeeping

Sync your church accounting software with apps that help you communicate with donors and manage contributions with ease. Church accounting software helps you get your church’s bookkeeping done quickly and accurately, so you and your administrative staff can get back to the things that matter most to your ministry. After reviewing the available options, PowerChurch tops our list thanks to its industry-specific features and decades of experience working with churches. Think of it like having an all-in-one assistant that helps you handle payroll, create donation receipts, schedule events, and track who’s attending your services—all from one place. Whether you’re a small congregation or a multi-campus church, it’s there to simplify the administrative load so you can focus on ministry.

Robust feature set includes thorough record-keeping, comprehensive reporting, excellent invoicing and inventory management, plus a capable mobile app. Additionally, PowerChurch Plus offers tools for managing member communications, including email, text messaging, and social media. These tools help churches stay in touch with their congregants and keep them informed of upcoming events and activities. Easy to use and customizable, our accounting software can streamline financial processes and help you make the most efficient use of resources.

church bookkeeping

Fund accounting is a system by which an organization tracks its resource allocation by separating funds into different categories. For example, your church may use a $100 tithe to contribute to your operational costs or a specific program, like your children’s ministry. This method helps to ensure that you use resources wisely and productively across the organization’s operations. Using specialized accounting software helps pastors focus on their core calling while leaving the intricacies of financial management to the experts.

How To Choose a Church Accounting Software

Her work has been featured by business brands such as Adobe, WorkFusion, AT&T, SEMRush, Fit Small Business, USA Today Blueprint, Content Marketing Institute, Towards Data Science and Business2Community. Churches that want to save money and error-proof their accounting via easy-to-use intelligent automations should consider Zoho Books. Instantly create and customize key statements for official reporting, such as your Financial Position, Income, or Functional Expenses statements. Parable Church Accounting’s Financial Operating System will lay a solid foundation for years to come.

Why Parable Accounting and Bookkeeping for Churches?

If your church wants to pursue grant funding, look for a platform that includes grant management tools to utility deposits make the process easier. Many church financial software tools support multi-currency transactions, which is essential for international missions or overseas donations. Accounting tools like this typically offer currency conversion features and allow you to generate reports in various currencies while keeping your base currency intact.

What Are The Benefits of Bookkeeping For Churches?

  1. In general, businesses use accounting to maximize their profits, while churches aren’t legally allowed to turn a profit.
  2. AccountEdge Pro is a small business accounting software that provides advanced financial management and inventory tracking tools.
  3. They help reduce administrative burdens, maintain transparency, and support strategic financial planning, ultimately empowering your church to focus on its mission.
  4. They are fully PCI compliant, use data encryption, and monitor for fraud.
  5. These categories are based on the Unified Chart of Accounts (UCOA), a nonprofit-specific, standardized sample chart of accounts.

You can set rules to automate your church accounting such as rules to automate payments, categorize transactions and auto-charge cards for recurring transactions. These features form the foundation of effective church accounting software. They help reduce administrative burdens, maintain transparency, and support strategic financial planning, ultimately empowering your church to focus on its mission. Features include account segments for more detailed reporting of transactions as well as tools for administrative tasks, like volunteer management, background checks, event management, and reporting. Realm also offers mobile apps for better congregation connectivity. Features include membership management, financial management, event management, scheduling, reporting, accounting, communication, online giving, and third-party integrations/add-ons.

Many organizations start out tracking their transactions in a spreadsheet for simplicity. However, as your church grows and its financial situation becomes more complex, you’ll eventually need to switch to dedicated accounting software. Although nearly all churches are tax-exempt organizations, that doesn’t mean your church can write off tax season! Unlike other nonprofits, most churches don’t have to file an annual tax return via IRS Form 990. However, there are exceptions to this rule, as well as special forms your church may have to complete depending on its income or the state it operates in. Stay up to date on the IRS’s guidelines for church financial reporting to ensure compliance each year.