Want to learn about the best church accounting software 2021? Or about the best free church accounting software? Check out these free church financial software and you will find an abundance of options to choose from.
Did you know that most churches use accounting software? And, most of them use a different type of accounting software. If you’re seeking the best free church accounting software, or the best paid church accounting software, this article is for you. If you have been tasked with learning about the best church accounting software 2021′ -or 2020′- then check out the list below.
FlockBase
FlockBase is an ERP for churches and businesses of all sizes and intended for accountants, treasurers and more. Its versions include cloud and desktop.
Unique Benefits
FlockBase comes with various benefits that set it apart from its competitors. These benefits include:
- Multiple Locations: If a church has multiple locations, you can draft a list of classes and delegate each transaction to a specific one. This function also offers profit and loss reports that you filter by each class.
- Closed Date: You can input a closed date that notifies other users or prevents them from entering or modifying a dated transaction before the close date. Manage the users list to determine which users can or can’t override the closed date warning.
- Data Backup: Leverage this tool to create a backup of their data files in case you accidentally lose critical information.
- Direct Deposit: Pay staff and vendors directly through their bank accounts.
Church Membership
Chronicle records of members and groups, contributions, pledges, attendance records, reports and communications with the church membership apparatus.
Online Giving
This module enables donors to schedule repetitive contributions. It’s also partnered with Forte Payment Systems for integrated online giving.
Payroll
Automatically cipher and retain federal taxes, track and record state taxes withheld on employee W-2 forms and pay staff while complying with IRS regulations thanks to the payroll tool. This accessory commits every employee paycheck to memory and recalls the correct paycheck for particular employees. You may also track employee payroll and print year-end W-2 sheets.
Reporting
This attribute permits you to track balances, income and expenses by a specific fund. It handles multiple reports for profit and loss, balance sheets and general ledger, as well as more than 25 reports to pick and choose.
Budgeting
Track and compare actual income and expenditures to your projected budget with the budgeting apparatus.
Bank Reconciliation
Add new accounts to reconcile, evaluate reconciled accounts and uncleared transactions and review the difference in balance with the bank reconciliation appliance. You may also balance account and bank balances.
More Mentionable Modules
Although FlockBase has all the common features for this type of software, some additional features are worth mentioning to streamline your accounting practices. These additional accessories include:
- Fund Accounting: Administer general funds and restricted funds and implement a consistent numbering scheme to identify funds and accounts.
- Paycheck Management: Govern minister and non-minister paychecks and calculate paycheck hours.
- Deposit Import: Input deposits from contribution and membership tracking programs outside of Flockbase.
- Transaction Scheduling: Initiate future or regular interval transactions.
Limitations
FlockBase comes with a few limitations. These disadvantages include:
- Not closing years or starting an accounting period for a new fiscal year.
- Non-sequential checks, making bank statement balancing time consuming.
IconCMO
PROS
- Comprehensive church management features
- Childcare security add-on (separate fee required)
- Affordable for small and medium churches
- Includes unlimited users
CONS
- No fixed-asset tracking
- Expensive for larger churches
- Event registration feature requires an additional fee
- Can’t use Icon Check-in without an internet connection
Overall Score4.07OUT OF5
| RATING CRITERIA | PRICING | 3.98 | OUT OF | 5 |
| EASE OF USE | 3.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| GENERAL FEATURES | 3.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| CHURCH FEATURES | 4.44 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| EXPERT ANALYSIS | 4.38 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
We consider IconCMO our top pick because of its extensive list of accounting and church management features, including fund accounting, event registration, and online donation management. For an additional $15 per month, it offers a child check-in system (Icon Check-in), which is extremely helpful if your church runs a child care program. As a feature-rich church accounting software, it’s complicated to use. It requires more than basic bookkeeping training and experience. But once you get comfortable with it, IconCMO becomes a powerful tool for your church. If your church has paid staff, you can add payroll for unlimited employees for only $25 per month.
Pricing
IconCMO’s prices depend on the number of families your organization serves:
- 1 to 100 families: $35 per month
- 101 to 250 families: $49 per month
- 251 to 500 families: $59 month
- 501 to 750 families: $74 month
- 751 to 1,000 families: $84 per month
- 1,001 to 3,000 families: $94 month
- 3,000-plus families: $124 month
Available add-ons include:
- Icon Check-in add-on: $15 per month
- Icon Payroll add-on: $25 per month
- Event registration add-on: $15 per month
You can try IconCMO for free for 30 days with no credit card required.
QuickBooks Premier
We typically recommend QuickBooks Online for small businesses, but that is not the case for small churches. If your church is on the smaller side, QuickBooks Premier, with its nonprofit capabilities, may be your best small church accounting software option.
Why do we recommend QuickBooks Premier — a desktop-based product — instead of cloud-based QuickBooks Online? Primarily, it’s because of donor reporting functionality. Although you can employ workarounds to make QuickBooks Online work for your church’s accounting needs, QuickBooks Online doesn’t provide any donor reporting, nor will it print end-of-year donation statements. QuickBooks Premier does both with minimal effort.
Using a desktop product like QuickBooks Premier means you lose the flexibility of anytime, anywhere access to your accounting records, unless you choose to pay for a hosting service like Right Networks. However, the functionality you gain with QuickBooks Premier — and the time you’ll save at year-end makes this inconvenience negligible for most small churches.
QuickBooks Premier requires a one-time purchase of $499.95, but nonprofit organizations can typically receive a significant discount if they purchase through TechSoup. If you need church accounting software with payroll capabilities, QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll is available for $31.50 per month plus $2 per employee per month.
Aplos
Aplos church accounting software was founded in 2009 by the executive pastor of a church in California. While Aplos started as a web-based church accounting system, it has evolved to include event registration, church marketing, fundraising, website builder, and more.
The accounting system offers integrated payroll, tithe tracking, automated donations, and more.
- Aplos starts at $59/month
- For $79/month, churches can add text-to-give
- Customized systems with advanced accounting (project and fund budgeting, fixed asset management, automation) start at $159/month.
Aplos offers a 50% discount for the first six months for new users who subscribe during their 15-day free trial, and a 10% discount for an annual commitment.
PowerChurch
Founded in 1984, PowerChurch Plus is one of the most established church accounting software programs on the market. PowerChurch Plus is a desktop-based church accounting software, but the company also has an online option: PowerChurch Online. Unlike QuickBooks where the desktop and online versions of the software differ considerably, PowerChurch Online is an actual installation of PowerChurch Plus on PowerChurch’s servers.
PowerChurch is a complete church accounting software, membership management, and recordkeeping system for your growing church. If you need more functionality than the core program offers, you can purchase additional add-ons, such as to handle check-ins or mass mailings. Keep in mind though, this will raise the price of your church accounting software — but if you were paying for these things anyway, it can streamline the process to get them all from the same provider.
The PowerChurch user interface isn’t anything fancy — in fact, it harkens back to the accounting software of 20 years ago — but it does what it’s supposed to do, and it does it well. However, one downside to PowerChurch is that it’s not form-based like QuickBooks; instead, it assumes a basic understanding of double-entry accounting–including which accounts are normally increased by credits or debits — making the learning curve a bit steep for someone with no prior accounting knowledge.
PowerChurch Plus is available for a one-time purchase of $395 if you download the software, or $415 if you order a physical disk for installation. Upgrades are an additional $159 for downloads or $179 for physical media. PowerChurch Plus only works on Windows PCs.
PowerChurch Online is $39.95 per month for two users, with the option to pay an extra $25 per month for every two additional users. If you opt for annual billing instead of monthly, you will save a marginal amount and pay $455 for the standard two-person license, or $275 per two additional users. All upgrades are included in this price, and you can use PowerChurch Online on any computer with an internet connection.
Conclusion:
If you manage a church, then you’re looking for the best accounting software for churches. Simply, you need to know which accounting software is going to work best for you and your organization. There are two kinds of church software. One kind is meant to help you improve your church’s church administration performance and make the church treasurer’s job easier. The other kind is designed to help you manipulate the data for a more precise financial report.