Church Accounting Software

What is church accounting software?

Church accounting software helps churches and other religious organizations automate, organize, and manage their day-to-day financial operations. The software offers features, such as bank reconciliation, expense categorization, and budgeting that allow administrators to track churches’ income, which is usually in the form of donor and member contributions. Additionally, it ensures accurate management of financial records and timely payment of compensations to staff members.

What is the difference between church accounting and church management software?

Church accounting software is specifically designed to help churches keep their financial books balanced. The tool assists nonprofit organizations with the tracking and planning of finances, including contributions and donations. Church management software, on the other hand, streamlines the daily operations of a church. The system enables churches to automate administrative, management, and reporting activities involved in church administration, such as members, contributions, and events management.

While church accounting software is specifically designed to meet the unique financial requirements of the churches, church management software facilitates smooth running of the religious organization. A complete church management system often includes the functionality of church accounting.

What is the best church accounting software?

To find the best software from the long list of available options on the market, view our GetApp’s Category Leaders report for church accounting software that will help you compare two or more different products and select the best church software for your faith based organization.

The report features top church accounting software solutions based on ease of use, functionality, customer support, value for money, and likelihood to recommend.

Why do churches need a church accounting system?

• Streamlines budgeting: Church accounting software eases church finance and budget management processes for church leaders. The software offers multiple features, such as general ledger, accounts receivable/payable, forecasting, expense tracking, and flexible reporting options to simplify the entire process of managing the operational budget.

• Facilitates financial reporting and compliance: Financial statements allow churches to detail their activities. Church administrators use church accounting tools to generate accurate financial reports, such as income statements and statements of functional expenses. The software also ensures conformance to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), as mandated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).

• Saves time in handling administrative workload: Church accounting software automates the day-to-day financial operations of a church, simplifies the church bookkeeping process, reduces the administrative load, and improves the overall operational efficiency of these organizations. It helps the administrators track and report all their expenses and donations accurately without wasting time on maintaining multiple spreadsheets and other important documents, such as donation receipts and bills.

How much does church accounting software cost?

Church accounting software cost in the following price ranges*:

Price ranges*:

• $6 - $12

• $13 - $27

• $27+

Most products in the market are priced on a “per month” basis and can be divided into three pricing tiers based on their starting price.

How does church accounting software help SMBs?

• Offers better record keeping: Detailed records help church leaders keep an eye on important church metrics, such as online giving history, expenses, and finances. Considering that small churches have limited members who also need to handle other important tasks other than record keeping, the administrators can use church accounting tools to maintain and manage vital records that can affect church runs. These might include annual financial statements, tax returns, bank statements, investment records, tax bills, and donation receipts.

• Eases fund accounting: Fund accounting enables churches to understand how much of their funding is spent on various programs, fundraising events, and as operational expenses. Church accounting tools offer fund accounting as a core feature that allows small churches to better track funds assigned for different purposes and manage their usage.

• Helps manage church budget: Small churches usually have a tight budget. Church accounting software provides the church staff with an overall view of the daily expenditures and helps them map out their current expenses. This, in turn, helps them stick to their budget and avoid expense overruns.

Sources

Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from GetApp’s church accounting software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in the Get App’s directory that offer them.

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites as of November 18, 2022. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.

The above list includes pricing for the base plans of most products. An enterprise or premium product that is priced higher may include additional features such as membership management, payroll management, asset tracking, and forecasting.