Friday, May 11, 2018
Hey Fletch … Thank you for putting together another successful XP-Seminar. I enjoyed it once again and look forward to it each year! I was wondering if you had any insights in the area of accounting software. We currently use Quickbooks Desktop and are in the process of evaluating Quickbooks Online for our church’s accounting software. I was wondering if you knew of any solutions that other XPs are using or ones you’ve used in the past. Any help is appreciated!
DRF—That question is beyond my pay grade. Let me see if an accountant can shed some light on it. I contacted CPA Mike Batts of Batts Morrison Wales & Lee. Mike has written extensively about tax-related issues.
Mike responded by saying, “Let me refer you to a web post by my friend, Nick Nicholaou, with Ministry Business Services. He addresses this topic thoroughly and has a helpful chart that compares the features of the most widely used church management applications.” I almost missed the chart as it is simply a PDF icon at the top of the article. I found the PDF chart to have more data on church software programs than any I have seen before.
Nick says in the article and chart: “Solutions from church and donor management software providers keep improving in their ability to help churches and ministries fulfill their mission! Their features to track and communicate with people, their web and mobile device interfaces, and their powerful database tools make this category of software a big help and a valuable asset for today’s ministries in reaching many with The Gospel and discipling them.”
This exhaustive material will greatly help you in your search for accounting software. It is so much better than what I could have done! I asked Nick for some additional comments.
Nick—Church and ministry database and accounting needs are unique! Very few solutions solidly help fulfill the church’s mission—the most important on Earth—but those included in the post are leaders in doing so. Keep in mind that no solution is perfect, but an 80-90% meeting of your needs is possible!
