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It is the end of the year for your religious or small nonprofit organization and you may find some of your well-intentioned donors could not fulfill their pledges. Rather than carry the uncollectible pledges forward in the following year, you will want to issue credit memos in QuickBooks to write off the balances. First, set up a new item (Lists, Item List, right click, New)called Uncollectible Pledges or Uncollectible Tithes and have it link to your Pledges/Tithes/Offerings Income Account. By using items, your organization can track the amount of write-offs each year.   Next you'll need to determine which pledges...

Cleaning up the Chart of Accounts by Merging Accounts in QuickBooks Over the year, you may have wished you had set up your QuickBooks chart of accounts differently. Perhaps there are too many account numbers or the information doesn't consolidate on the financial statements the way you would like. Look at the reports you are giving to the executive director, pastor, or governing board and listen to the questions they have been asking. If you find yourself having to prepare spreadsheets or answer the same questions each month, ask yourself, "Could I use the chart of accounts to group this...

As the new year starts, I know there are a number of organizations thinking about changing their accounting systems. In case you are wondering whether you can use QuickBooks in a nonprofit environment, I recorded this video to show both the pros and cons. It is focused towards churches, but covers most of what other nonprofit organizations have to consider. Though the system isn't for every organization, if you think QuickBooks may work for you, please consider my books, Using QuickBooks for Nonprofit Organizations, Associations, & Clubs or QuickBooks for Churches & Other Religious Organizations. The step-by-step instructions and hundreds of illustrations make...

Tis the season for charitable donations and for non-profits to reassess their ability to accept appropriate contributions. Transferring stock for a charitable contribution may give the donor a significant tax advantage. With the stock market at all-time highs, many donors may have stock that has appreciated in value over the last few years. Donating this stock, in lieu of cash, may allow the donor to receive the full market value of the stock as a deduction instead of having to pay the capital gains. Stock transferred as a donation to an eligible organization may be deducted by the donor at the...

What a busy month! First Church Accounting: The How-To Guide to Small & Growing Churches and now the 2nd edition of QuickBooks for Churches and Other Religious Organizations has just been released as an e-book! The paperback version should be ready for shipping by December 5. The 2nd edition includes a chapter on tracking in-house payroll through QuickBooks, what's new in the 2015 version of QuickBooks, how to track member accounts for mission trips & the like, and more based on reader responses. I highly recommend bundling it with Church Accounting: The How-To Guide to Small & Growing Churches for...