I am searching for accounting software for my museum. We are a 501(c)3 non profit, so we need software that deals with that. I'm not the accountant, but work in IT.

I did a search on here for accounting software, and found a thread from a year ago which mentioned Compiere. Has anyone had any experience with it?

Are there other, more up-to-date accounting software that anyone has run across?

We are using QuickBooks.

Wesley

Our accountant uses Quickbooks.

Our donations and address database is currently handled with DonorPerfect.

Al Stangenberger
Treasurer, WRM

I've seen some pretty impressive systems with Quickbooks. The advantage there is that there is an extremely wide user base and it is very intuitive. You're far more likely to find someone to be competent with that software even if it isn't necessarily cutting-edge specifically for nonprofits. I've used it for years, and it has its faults for sure, but I still have yet to find anything that overall does a better job and can be learned faster.

Also check out www.techsoup.org - they are the central clearinghouse for donated software for 501(c)3's nationwide, and my clients would be lost without them. Never, ever, ever pay retail!

Tech Soup has a really well-written comparison and evaluation of packages, too:
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/ ... ge5144.cfm

I would avoid Compiere, unless you are huge and have somebody with expertise with the package ready to assist you.

While its "open source" its an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. Other names you might be familiar with are SAP and Oracle. Instead of charging you for the rights to the software, the way the organization makes money by offering education and support. Its essentially what marketers referred to as the "gilette method" (handle is a near give away, money made on blades).

I don't know if it will support not-for profit GAAP, even with heavy customization. Quickbooks (not for profit) is a good solution. Look for the following in selecting accounting software.

1.) Wide install base. The more other organizations that have a package, the more likely your external accountant will be familiar with it and familiarity breeds fewer billable (to you) hours. It also means you can find others with experience with the package.

2.) Certification program. QB has their Quickbooks Pro Advisor program, which allows you to know that they are attesting to an accountant's proficiency with their software.

3. Ease of use. A perfect program is useless if it has a steep learning curve. You want out of the box ease of use.

4.) Integration with Microsoft Office. Sometimes, in order to extract the information you want, its easier to extract to Excel or Access.

5.) FASB compliance, without a lot of detail, FASB Statements 116, 117 & 124, as amended are what matters in the NFP world.

6.) A viable publisher: a low cost package won't be low cost if you have to replace it in a couple years because they didn't have a viable business model-this is less a factor that it was in the late '90's and during the dot com bomb. The markets have matured and the Alcos and Baldwins of the software world are now pretty much gone.

These are the basics, contact me offline and we can discuss in detail. I am a CPA.

The feature I love in quickbooks is the export to Excel function. We use classes to account for our restricted funds and if I want to extract restricted expenses from the general expenses, I can sort them in Excel delete what I don't need and generate all kinds of reports for my board. Another way that feature helps is you can take your vendor list, export to Excel and make a database of all vendors wil contact info and everything.

We have a separate database program to track membership. The only interface with Quickboos there is the total dues collected and deposited are entered into the cash receipts journal manually into QB.

CPAs love clients that use QB also.

You can try the free version of what Microsoft provides. It intergrates with office. It is also a free download and installs fairly easy too. It also intergrates some Paypal things too which can make things eaiser.
I haven't tried all the features but it looks pretty good if you can live with a Microsoft product. Here is a link to it.
Andrew
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/accou ... fault.aspx

We have been using Peachtree for over 15 years. I suspect like Quickbooks it does most anything you want from an accounting point of view. I find it easy to use and we also use their payroll service. It gives you an excel converstion that lets you move into the spreadsheet for sorting and other tasks.

Peachtree also has a version for Non profit entities. We have not looked at using it as we have set up the accounts and things to handle fund accounting, restricted funds and the like. If we hadn't already done that we might give it a try.

Tim Andrews
TVRM

I have the same question as was asked seven years ago. I looked at the links and they give me a starting place, but wonder what the current thinking is?

We don't have a general membership so don't need to manage the membership. We don't have, nor do we expect to have employees, so payroll isn't an issue. We share some similarities with a museum, but our "collection" is limited to one locomotive, so we don't need specialized software to track and document a collection.

When we started three years ago, a community foundation served as our fiscal sponsor. They had the 501(c)(3) and received and held all funds, either paying directly for our needs or reimbursing us for purchases. Grants were submitted in their name. The only income we had to report the first year was in-kind donations of goods.

I volunteered to be book keeper and have built an accounting system under Excel with Quicken Starter for the bank accounts. Before that my accounting background was restricted to Accounting 101 a number of years ago. The accounting needs have grown to the point where the system lacks the sophistication that it should have and takes way too much of my time. We now have a 501(c)(3) and I've also picked up the jobs of fund raising and grant preparation. The complexity of tax preparation has grown to where it takes considerable effort and time.

I hurts me to divert any money to accounting software when we need it to restore the locomotive, but it's time to bite the bullet.

Any recommendations on what might work for us?

There's an old adage among mainframe buyers in the 1960s: Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. You get a solid product (certainly not innovative) and it's easy to find skilled staff and technical solutions. It's the safest, surest investment you're least likely to regret. Obviously, this is motivated by fear.

For us, the "IBM" is Quickbooks.

Specifically: the Nonprofit Edition only purchasable by buying the WINDOWS version of Premier Editions 2015. Cost is free to nonprofits, with $50 admin fee.
http://www.techsoup.org/intuit

How can this pricing model work? The REAL cost is your time to learn the software, and they make it on support calls, and the fact that knowing the product, you're more likely to choose it in the future.

That was easy. Done. Oh wait, the world just changed...

--------------------

"Cloud" or Internet based accounting systems are emergent, and have some VERY neat features.

- Everything is journaled, so no funny business or double books.
- The service provider takes care of backups.
- Not stuck with Windows, it supports Mac, Linux, even phones/tablets, often via an app.
- Anyone can access it anywhere there's an internet connection, but you need one.
- You can assign sub-accounts and control who has access to what, including yourself.
- Some integrate really well with online banking, point-of-sale, website sales, bill pay etc. and the time savings can be phenomenal.
- Innovations like "capture a receipt with your phone camera".
- Security issues are "different" but far better in the whole.
- You pay by the month and it's more expensive.
- Only one company per subscription.

If any of those features are compelling to you - as well they might - then your search got a lot tougher. I hear Quickbooks didn't translate well to the cloud (partly out of obligation to have the same look and feel as the desktop) and in any case the online version doesn't support nonprofit.

Two thoughts --

1) spend a few bucks and read one of those xxx for Dummies books or try some utube videos that explain the program

2) There are ways to use Q'books in the cloud and you can find a list of approved service providers on their web site, cost is typically $50 per month per user

Bob H

I have used QuickBooks in four non-profit organizations with budgets from $100k to $750k. It is very flexible and easy to use. The Excel download feature allows easy reporting.

Wesley

Blackbaud makes an array of products all aimed at nonprofits. Financial Edge is their accounting software. Raiser's Edge is their fundraising/development/membership software. Both are local, windows, client/server applications aimed at mid-sized nonprofits. They have a variety of hosted applications as well which might be better suited to the small nonprofit. They seem to be a reasonable company to deal with.

Quickbooks is the most common, but it sounds like the more recent versions have a lot of problems. A lot of complaints about forced upgrades to get support after only 3 years (which often breaks things), poor support (far eastern reps), expensive support, and forced upselling. Also, you have to pay for support for Quickbooks, so things can get expensive quickly if you have an issue.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/computer ... books.html

Hosted products are great for not needing to worry about local security or your PC requirements so much or backups. however, remember with any hosted product, THEY hold your data. If you decide to go with a hosted product, be very VERY clear going in what the path and possible cost is to get your data back. I have heard many stories of online customers having to pay to get their data back when moving away from the product. Another caution about hosted products, unlike a local install, you usually have no choice when they bring out updates. They get installed whether you like it or not, or they will not support you on you older version until you upgrade (sometimes with a cost.) The upgrades can also break various workarounds that fit your processes into their system.

I wrote the original post.

In case anyone's curious, we ended up buying Quickbooks, through Techsoup. Cost is very reasonable, usually around $50. I end up upgrading every 2 years.

My prior accounting experience was classes in HS and college, about 15 years prior. So there was a bit of a learning curve for me. Been using it for 6+ years now. It works very well for us.

Thanks for closing the loop with us, often people ask questions and never let others know what they decided.

Q'books has a sample company you can practice with before you go live and you'll find you won't have to buy updates that often.

Bob H