Church Management Software makes Accounting a Breeze
Churches are important institutions in our society. People have great faith in their church. Depending on the communities to which churches belong to, these may have different sizes, according to the number of parishioners. There can be churches with hundreds of members or even large ministries with thousands of members. The more a church bigger and more complex, it requires greater effort to be managed. The activities that take place within a church are various, either targeting a religious service deployment, tracking member participation in religious services, offering trainings for various groups, carrying out specific tasks, data on visitors, charity, pledges of donations, financial accounting activities, events, etc. All of these activities are easier to be carried out with the help of church management software programs.
An important aspect in managing a church is the financial accounting aspect because people donate money to go to c0harity and they will want to know how this money is used. This being said, the financial aspect must be carefully managed by the church, so that its parishioners would trust the church staff completely. Therefore it is important that the church establishes the way in which its finances will be handles. Some basic principles must be taken into account in order to have a healthy way of managing finances, namely:
- clearly identify the financial responsibilities in a transparent manner to ensure that money from donations are handled transparently;
- establish procedures for conducting financial transactions that will be followed exactly and without exception to ensure coherent financial instrument;
- choosing a software that is easy to use but at the same time powerful enough to contain all the necessary elements for managing all the financial-accounting activity and which could work well with other software programs you might possess.
Using accounting software programs, these activities are made easier, more exact and more transparently, while the collaboration with the banks or the statutory auditors becomes simplified.
Software developers have created management software packages for all types of churches. A church management software package is a complex product, which also contains modules for financial and accounting management, because church accounting is different from the one performed in enterprises or other institutions. In the case of church management software, the various integrated modules are compatible with each other, offering the possibility of importing data from one program to another and developing all kinds of reports.
When acquiring management software for churches it is recommended that the program is also analyzed by a person with financial training, to see if that software has an accounting module that allows tracking the revenue and expenditure, budgeting and reporting. Also, a performant management software will enable improvements (upgrades) and will be able to offer consultancy and training to its users.
The software for managing accounts in a church has major benefits in comparison to other types of financial software. Some are tailored to the unique needs of a church and are integrated not only with other financial software modules, but also with membership modules. A peculiarity of financial software for churches is the way in which it satisfies the needs of a church regarding the payments methods, because pastors have a different status on payroll taxes, a situation that software for non churches do not take into account.
A church management software that meets these requirements and contains a powerful accounting module is the ChurchPro 2010. Its financial module includes a wide range of features: balance sheets, payable accounts, treasurer’s report, checking, contributions, easy deposit, employment tracking, check writer, vendors list, payroll, chart of accounts, contributions reports and all sorts of accounting reports. You can request a free demo at https://www.churchpro.com/freedemo.asp.
Another management software for churches with a complex and powerful financial-accounting module is PowerChurch Plus. Among the many modules for all specific tasks that must be handled in a church, the package contains an accounting module especially designed for the church’s needs.
The accounting module uses the accounting principles and manages funds, accounts, provides clear management lines that allow an easy auditing, generates financial-accounting reports, tracks the income and expenditure. The module also ensures the timely payment of your bills by maintaining accurate records of payments due and bills. It also manages insurance or leasing payments, utility bills or loans.
The management of revenue is made simpler and with more accuracy, client release statements and credit notes can be easily issued. Salary issues are resolved, payrolls with church-specific requirements such as exemption from social security or tax deductions are made automatically and the amounts withheld at the source are calculated by the program.
This type of software helps you maintain a good communication with the bank, allows the creation of new accounts and adding accounting invoices repeatedly. The software is regularly upgraded to suit the up-to-date financial-accounting requirements. You can request a free demo at http://www.powerchurch.com/demo/.
There are a number of church management software products that can be used free of charge for a certain amount of time or by a specified number of users, and if the users are satisfied with the software and consider the product fully fulfils the needs of their church, they can decide to buy the product, receiving an unlimited functionality period of the complete software with all its bells-and-whistles. A software solution of this type is CHABAWORKS. Its financial-accounting module can assist you in accomplishing your daily or monthly accounting tasks in a number of ways: it helps you manage bank accounts, credit card accounts, create funds and sub-funds, manage expense and income accounts, set up dedicated accounts, manage assets, equities and liabilities, create and track budgets, accounts payable, payment reminders, making payrolls, payroll liabilities, employees payment status and reporting.
In conclusion, using a church management software that includes a complete and complex financial accounting module turns the difficult task of auditing and managing finances into something nice and simple and gives parishioners full trust regarding the use of their donations.
Church Software Packages
