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 can be juggling much more spreadsheets exterior of your software program.
There’s a higher means.
If shedding tags is placing you one step nearer to discovering a brand new fund accounting software program—or you’re simply scrambling to determine observe restricted income in QuickBooks—listed below are some suggestions for what you are able to do within the quick time period, and what it is advisable 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, corresponding to particular grants and applications. Tags allowed these organizations to acknowledge funds that wanted to be tracked additional in an outdoor spreadsheet. This was a workaround that allowed a nonprofit to remain compliant with donor restrictions and grant necessities, although it was exterior of their accounting resolution.
With out the tagging performance, nonprofits should now discover other ways to handle restricted income, probably including extra guide steps to an already cumbersome course of. This shift underscores the necessity for a extra sturdy accounting resolution 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 might introduce errors and extra threat. Managing monetary data throughout a number of applications can result in disjointed and unreliable reporting, undermining the credibility of your monetary knowledge.
If you keep monetary knowledge exterior of your accounting resolution, you introduce pointless threat into your financials. Whereas Excel is a robust instrument, data could be mis-keyed and formulation can get damaged. Protecting this data exterior your system requires impeccable spreadsheet administration and guide updates.
Listed here are some suggestions for ensuring you mitigate threat till you’ll be able to swap to nonprofit accounting software program.
- The very first thing you must do as a finance skilled is audit your spreadsheets since you don’t know the way 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 method and the place the numbers are going to all through your spreadsheet.
- Have a documented course of to be sure you are retaining your Excel spreadsheet updated. Know who needs to 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 data is stored wherein spreadsheet and the way to ensure the information is up to date. Keep away from being a bottleneck when your applications 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 overview each spreadsheet you utilize to handle your accounting to confirm the knowledge is appropriate and solely authorised crew members have entry to the information.
Simplify Managing Restricted Income with Fund Accounting Software program
Don’t look ahead to the final straw. You’re going to proceed to outgrow QuickBooks as a result of they don’t seem to be centered in your wants.
Not like normal 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 data.
Built-in with instruments like Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, Monetary Edge NXT enhances your capability 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 decreasing guide knowledge entry and minimizing errors.
Nonprofit-specific accounting methods additionally include enhanced accountability and inner management options, simplifying the way you observe expenditures and revenues. This ensures compliance with funder necessities and gives clear audit trails and customizable reviews. This transparency makes it simpler to reveal monetary integrity to stakeholders, auditors, and regulatory our bodies.
By adopting a nonprofit fund accounting resolution like Monetary Edge NXT, you’ll be able to 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 just isn’t made for you. It was an amazing instrument 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 knowledge 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 a part of us for an on-demand product tour of Monetary Edge NXT.
