QuickBooks Integration

December 4th 2013

The following is a guest post by Nancy, Office Administrator – Next Level Church – Yorktown, VA.

A Little Bit About Administration…

Church administration is sometimes complicated and always busy. To ease the stress, it is imperative to have systems in place that streamline efficiency while ensuring accuracy and accountability. The two areas where this balance is most necessary are bookkeeping and data management.

Church Membership Online (CMO) is the easiest and most streamlined program I have used. Entering new church members, visitors, and contributions is uncomplicated and intuitive. There are multiple customizable fields that allow churches to have quick access to whatever information is needed. Each church is able to set up Ministries, Spiritual Development, and any other information it finds necessary. All information for each individual can be entered at one time on one screen. It provides child check-in which enables children’s ministries to provide a safe and secure environment.

CMO also allows online giving which is automatically credited to the individual contributor. Individuals can access their giving information at any time. End of year statements can be downloaded by members at their convenience or printed and mailed by church staff.

With all contribution accountability functions being done by Church Membership Online, Quickbooks then becomes your “checkbook” to pay bills, record deposits, and track spending. The combination of these two programs eases the stress and paperwork involved in church administration.

Quickbooks Accounting

Coordinating these two powerful programs is easy. Quickbooks is my program of choice for bookkeeping and has proven to be relatively easy to learn. Maintaining our financial records through Quickbooks has been a smooth process. The chart of accounts is customizable to multiple deposit and expense accounts.

Combining The Power Of CMO + Quickbooks

Church Membership Online serves as the mechanism for tracking an individual’s giving and provides end of year statements for tax purposes. Some churches use Quickbooks for this function, but I have found that to be redundant. There is no need to keep dual records on every person that makes a contribution to your church. With CMO’s online giving feature, all online contributions are already automatically credited to the individual. Rather than having to re-enter every contribution into Quickbooks, all you need to do is make the deposit. No individual giving records need to be kept in Quickbooks.

Entering deposits from multiple sources and even multiple fund accounts is a very easy process using the “Make Deposit” feature in Quickbooks. It is similar to using a checkbook register. We use both online giving and traditional envelope giving. With CMO the online contributions are automatically recorded and attributed to the individual. When cash or checks are received through the offering on Sundays, it is a simple process to enter that data.

 

Step By Step Integration

Each week a team gathers to count and deposit the contributions for the week.

    1. The offering is sorted into “batches.” Our batches include anonymous, cash, and check. If you have a high volume of contributions, breaking them down into batches with 20 to 25 checks in each helps eliminate and, if necessary, more easily find errors in calculation. Batches are also used to separate contributions earmarked for different funds such as Missions, Building, etc. Once the sorting is complete we count the money in each batch and get a total using a calculator.
    2. Once we have a total for each batch, we then enter the individual contributions in to Church Office Online using the Manage Batches interface. Create the batches by naming them in a consistent manner and entering the totals.

    1. Next go to the Add Individual Contributions area and enter each batch by first selecting that batch from the drop down menu. Enter each contribution. When the batch totals match, that batch is complete. Select a new batch and continue until all batches have been entered. CMO also allows you to enter a new contributor directly from the contributions screen. This feature is immensely helpful and a time saver.

    1. The total of all the batches can then be entered in to Quickbooks as a single deposit. Select the Banking tab in Quickbooks and then Make Deposit.

    1. If you have different funds such as General, Missions, Building, etc., the deposit can be split by entering the total for each income account and selecting that account from the drop down menu on the Make Deposits page. Quickbooks enters the amount as one deposit, which then matches your bank statement deposit amount.

  1. Through CMO Reports, we run a report for online contributions for that week. We consider a week Monday through Sunday. We then enter each of the online contributions individually in to Quickbooks on the date of each transaction. This can be a little time consuming, but saves time when reconciling at the end of the month, as then each deposit more closely matches your statement.
  2. Once all your contributions are entered in to CMO and Quickbooks you can run a report to get that week’s totals. The Quickbooks reports can be customized to give you the data you need. With these reports you can easily determine that your data matches.

 

Thanks!

Nancy
Office Administrator – Next Level Church – Yorktown, VA.