QuickBooks is depreciating the tags performance of their accounting software program beginning March 8. In case your nonprofit has chosen to make use of the tagging characteristic in QuickBooks to assist determine your restricted income, this implies you’ll be juggling much more spreadsheets outdoors of your software program.
There’s a higher means.
If dropping tags is placing you one step nearer to discovering a brand new fund accounting software program—or you might be simply scrambling to determine the best way to observe restricted income in QuickBooks—listed here are some ideas for what you are able to do within the brief time period, and what you should search for within the long-term.
The Worth of Tags for Nonprofits Utilizing QuickBooks
Many nonprofits used the tagging performance in QuickBooks to assist determine funding sources and donor intent, similar to particular grants and packages. Tags allowed these organizations to acknowledge funds that wanted to be tracked additional in an out of doors spreadsheet. This was a workaround that allowed a nonprofit to remain compliant with donor restrictions and grant necessities, although it was outdoors of their accounting answer.
With out the tagging performance, nonprofits should now discover alternative routes to handle restricted income, probably including extra handbook steps to an already cumbersome course of. This shift underscores the necessity for a extra sturdy accounting answer designed particularly for the distinctive wants of nonprofit organizations.
Monitoring Restricted Income With out Tags
When your accounting software program is not constructed for nonprofits, it forces you to handle your grants and different restricted income in spreadsheets, which may introduce errors and extra threat. Managing monetary info throughout a number of packages can result in disjointed and unreliable reporting, undermining the credibility of your monetary information.
Once you keep monetary information outdoors of your accounting answer, you introduce pointless threat into your financials. Whereas Excel is a robust device, info might be mis-keyed and formulation can get damaged. Maintaining this info outdoors your system requires impeccable spreadsheet administration and handbook updates.
Listed here are some ideas for ensuring you mitigate threat till you possibly can swap to nonprofit accounting software program.
- The very first thing it’s best to do as a finance skilled is audit your spreadsheets since you don’t understand how adept your folks, or predecessors, are at Excel. Confirm formulation are working the way in which they need to, and knowledge matches what’s in your accounting software program.
- Use the hint precedent and hint dependents performance in Excel to search out the place the numbers are coming from to feed the formulation and the place the numbers are going to all through your spreadsheet.
- Have a documented course of to be sure you are preserving your Excel spreadsheet updated. Know who must be updating your spreadsheets and when. Use the “present adjustments” performance or doc historical past to trace who has made adjustments and what they modified.
- Crosstrain your crew so others know what info is saved wherein spreadsheet and the way to verify the information is up to date. Keep away from being a bottleneck when your packages crew want an replace on how a lot finances is left on a selected grant.
- Do a spreadsheet audit not less than every year. Make time to evaluation each spreadsheet you utilize to handle your accounting to confirm the data is right and solely authorized crew members have entry to the information.
Simplify Managing Restricted Income with Fund Accounting Software program
Don’t anticipate the final straw. You will proceed to outgrow QuickBooks as a result of they aren’t centered in your wants.
In contrast to basic accounting methods, nonprofit-specific options like Blackbaud Monetary Edge NXT® are designed to deal with the complexity of restricted income and grant administration. These methods present centralized documentation, making it simpler to maintain all monetary information in a single place and guaranteeing correct, up-to-date info.
Built-in with instruments like Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, Monetary Edge NXT enhances your means to exactly observe donor intent, guaranteeing funds are used as meant and sustaining donor belief. This degree of integration streamlines processes and saves time by lowering handbook information entry and minimizing errors.
Nonprofit-specific accounting methods additionally include enhanced accountability and inside management options, simplifying the way you observe expenditures and revenues. This ensures compliance with funder necessities and offers clear audit trails and customizable experiences. This transparency makes it simpler to display monetary integrity to stakeholders, auditors, and regulatory our bodies.
By adopting a nonprofit fund accounting answer like Monetary Edge NXT, you possibly can enhance monetary reporting accuracy and operational effectivity, liberating up sources to focus in your mission. The specialised software program helps you navigate complicated monetary landscapes with confidence.
Select a Nonprofit Accounting System that Grows with You
In case you are a rising nonprofit, QuickBooks shouldn’t be made for you. It was an awesome device to get you began. However now that you’re rising and it’s taking a number of spreadsheets—to not point out lunchbreaks and logging in after hours—to get the data you want, it’s apparent that business software program isn’t serving you.
In case you are able to see what true nonprofit accounting software program can do for you, be part of us for an on-demand product tour of Monetary Edge NXT.