Cash vs. Accrual

by Robert
(North Tonawanda, NY)

Does fund accounting dictate whether to use cash or accrual accounting. We are a growing church and making the transition from cash to accrual but in the process, one person thinks that means we need to abandon fund accounting. Is this so? Thanks

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Feb 09, 2016
Cash vs Accrual ???
by: MarcusNTexas

Perhaps going to an accrual basis has more to do with the size of the church and the church's operating budget, but our church of about 100 members has a 2016 operating budget of about $500,000 and we have been using the basic Quick Books cash accounting system since 1999.

As a volunteer member of the church serving as treasurer for the last 6 years, I do not believe I would ever consider moving to the accrual basis unless there are some compelling/legal reasons for doing that.

Seems to me that going to accrual accounting would add lots of additional work that could not be justified in terms of likely benefits for making such a move. I would think that it would be possible to move to accrual accounting in either fund accounting or non-fund accounting.

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