Is QuickBooks Overkill for a Small Church?

by Marcus
(Charlotte, Texas USA)

I have recently been asked to serve as church treasurer for a small church in a small south Texas town.

Average regular Sunday worship attendance is about 100 men, women and children. The annual operating budget of the church is approximately $225,000 and the church has a total of 7 full time and part time employees. The total annual payroll is less than $120,000.

The person who has been serving as church treasurer has recently asked to be replaced and has been using QuickBooks for about 9 years, primarily because that is the accounting software used in the business where she is employed.

Although I have a background in accounting and finance, my initial impression is that QuickBooks is much too complicated for this small church and that it also produces more information than a small church really needs in order to properly account for both the revenues and the expenses of the church.

Are the products that you sell less complicated and less difficult to learn / understand than QuickBooks?

I have told my pastor and the stewardship/budget committee that I am willing to serve as treasurer for not more than 5 years (assuming I live to be 75) and at that point another person will need to assume these responsibilities; however, my belief is that in such a small church, finding someone who is able and willing to take the time to learn QuickBooks may be rather difficult and I am convinced that there must be a less difficult, simpler way to handle the accounting needs of a small church like ours.

Thanks for whatever advice you can provide me.


Answer

My spreadsheets are free; however, they are just single entry and with a church your size a double entry system that can track assets and liabilities may be a better choice.

With QuickBooks already set up (which is the hard part in my opinion), it shouldn’t be too hard to teach a church treasurer how to enter data and run reports.

Who knows...you may find someone who loves QuickBooks when it is time to hand over the reins :-)

Contact me and I'll send you my spreadsheets to look over.



Church Accounting Package

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