You are tasked with organizing your church office accounting and at this point you are not quite sure how to get this done.  The head of administration was convinced on the idea of computerized accounting because of the benefits that is expected to be derived such as:

• Reduction in the time required to prepare and maintain the accounts
• Business and contribution activity statements can be generated automatically
• Reporting is made easier since the Profit & Loss Statement can be generated in different formats such as by division or special event or for a specific period of time
• Comparative reporting is made easier in that, you can generate say the Profit & Loss with current and prior year information compared to show the currency and percentage differences by line item.
• Bank reconciliation is make easier
• Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss statements are generated automatically
• Budget versus Actual comparisons can be generated automatically
• Integration of the payroll function is possible
• Different ministries or activities can be set up and tracked as a segment or class.

So now you need to figure out your next move.  Before you start shopping for software package that you think might be ideal, there are some areas that should be looked into namely;

Budget:

You need to know how much your church has set aside in the budget to spend on accounting software.  This will help you to tailor your search and target the packages that are within your price range.

Functions:

Some accounting software is sophisticated and high-tech and can allow integration with say, a banking platform.  You should get the specs that the church needs (without the bells and whistles).

Technical supports and updates:

You need to know what technical support will be provided by the supplier, if that would be at an additional cost and how program updates will be handled.

User-friendliness:

This aspect is critical since the church accounting is done for the most part, by volunteers who may have limited accounting skills.  You really need to have an accounting package that will not be a challenge to understand and use.

Special Design:

The software developers have gone ahead and created accounting software that is specifically designed for the church.  You now want to figure out if that is what would best suit your church or maybe you should just get one of the off-the-shelf packages.

Payroll:

You need to know if the accounting software can handle payroll processing.  Where the package does not offer payroll services you need to know if your current payroll system can be integrated in to this accounting software.

New Equipment:

Anther aspect to the budget referred to above is whether your new accounting system will require additional computer equipment.  You will need to look at the equipment needs of the new accounting software system (memory, processing speed processor etc.) to decide whether new computer equipment is needed.

This is quite a bit of food for thought.  So gather your information together and have the discussions with the relevant persons in your ministry.  Together you can come up with the computerized accounting system that best suits your ministry’s needs.  

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