Churches can use Sage 50 Accounting Software for less than half the cost of a Nonprofit accounting solution.

Sage 50 Accounting can be used for church accounting as well as for other nonprofit organizations. Although it is not specifically designed for churches or nonprofit organizations. Many churches use it successfully by configuring the chart of accounts and reporting structure to match nonprofit accounting requirements. It is easy to do once you know some of the shortcuts to make this successful.

Great news, Sage 50 is an all-inclusive program. You don’t purchase it by modules. You get them all except Payroll. That is an add on. No need to pick and choose, you get it for one low price.

Better yet, with Sage 50, you can build 99 data bases in one program at no additional cost. You can merge them if you would like and you can open up to 13 different databases at one time to toggle between them.

When fund accounting is needed, Sage 50 can be set up to track many types of funds.

For Example, the following funds could be effortlessly tracked by modifying the General Ledger account numbers and by utilizing the Job module.

• General Fund
• Building Fund
• Missions fund
• Youth Ministry Fund
• Memorial Funds
• Restricted Donations

Grant tracking could conveniently be established by creating the following.

• Separate income and expense accounts for each fund.
• Use departments, cost centers, or account segments (depending on your Sage 50 version) to track restricted and unrestricted funds.
• Use Inventory Service Items to make posting donations and expenses easier for non-accountants.
• At any time, Reports could be pulled by funds using GL departmental segmentation.

Good news, for smaller organizations, you could track donations like a business would track customer sales.

The Customer Management page in Sage 50 would give you all the information you need regarding the member/donor.

• You could record member information since the members are set up as customers. You can track members by giving groups, children or families.  You can also set up everyone, so you have their specific name, phone number, email address and age for children to aid in children’s ministry.   
• For outreach, mailing labels can be produced for each group. (It is best to work with a Sage Consultant to get the most out of the Sage 50 program for the initial setup.)
• The program allows you to follow the donor contributions year after year showing historical information.
• Rank them but total contributions for the year and
• Produce contribution summaries for tax purposes.

For many organizations, Budgeting is one of the most important managing tools.

Budgets can be created from scratch each year or you can import actual expenses from a previous year

• Compare actual spending against budgets.
• Monitor ministry-specific budgets.
• Produce reports for church boards and finance committees.

Accounts Payable are included with the core program.

You can manage all of your bill paying needs.

• Vendor payments
• Utility bills
• Ministry expenses
• Facility maintenance costs
• Tuition or rental income (if applicable)

The Inventory/Service module makes using Sage 50 a breeze.

When using this module, all funds and account numbers used can set up so you always get it right.

You can choose from many different types of inventory items. They include all of the following:

• Stock Items
• Master Stock Items
• Sub stock Items
• Assemblies
• Administrative
• Nonstock Items
• Descripton

Financial Reporting

Typical church reports include:

• Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet)
• Statement of Activities (Income Statement)
• Budget vs. Actual Reports
• Fund Balances
• Cash Flow Reports

These can be customized in Sage 50 to resemble nonprofit financial statements.

The payroll module can be added to the software.

This would This would include paying ministers, employees, as well as filing most payroll taxes except worker’s comp and local taxes.

• Pastor salaries.
• Church staff payroll.
• Housing allowances (when configured properly).
• Annual filing and remitting of W-2’s and 1099’s for all employees and subcontractors.
• Because clergy tax treatment can be complex, churches  may choose to work with a CPA  or accountant familiar with church payroll regulations.

Advantages of Using Sage 50

• Well-established accounting platform.
• Strong general ledger and reporting capabilities.
• Good payroll integration.
• Suitable for small to medium-sized churches.
• Lower cost than MOST enterprise nonprofit systems.

Limitations for Churches and other Nonprofit organizations.

• Out of the box, not a true fund accounting software, but I can be simply modified to provide fund accounting with the use of “Job Costing”
• No membership management.
• No online giving management included with the program but could be easily added with a 3^rd party application that we offer at BestBusinessStrategies.com
• Initially more setup and customization required than church-specific solutions.   Once set up correctly, the program will prove to be less expensive in the end and offer as much as church specific solutions.

I’ve got to say it. Do it “Right from the Start!”

Sage 50 is not a difficult program to use. I always hear the comparison that QuickBooks is easier. I guess it is when you can put any information into the program and you pay your Accountant at the end of the year to sort it out because it was not set up properly it may be easier, but certainly not a good way to use a program that is supposed to help you analyze your business throughout the year. Why would you continue to operate the way you are if you are losing money. If you know where you stand throughout the year, you can modify your actions to modify the outcome.

All programs including QuickBooks should be set up by someone that knows what they are doing. This is like driving a car. You are not building the car you are simply driving it. Once you know where the buttons are and how they work, your off. Believe it or not, software is the same way. Sometimes you have to take the time to do it “Right from the Start!”

When you work with a professional, they can surely help you get the most out of you Sage 50 program. Many say it is difficult to use, but it is not. It is very comprehensive, but easy to use when set up properly with the help of a knowledgeable Sage 50 Master Certified Consultant.

Once setup there are plenty of opportunities to learn how to use the software.

Some simple training which is actually provided for free by Sage University, the Sage Knowledge center, the set up guide in the program, Sage 50 BEG101 Virtual Class for Beginners, Sage-50 US Study guides, and

Best Business Strategies has been using Sage 50 for church and nonprofit accounting for years.  We actually have a template we will give you at no extra cost when you purchase your Sage 50 from us. We also only support what we sell. If you need someone with experience, please look our way when purchasing your Sage 50 program.

For more information please contact:

Shirley Byard, President Best Business Strategies,

Shirley@BestBusinessStrategies.com

304-233-2612