Organizations deal with monetary transactions on a daily basis. These transactions often involve the exchange of resources, services, or products for money. Managing the Financial Aspects of such transactions requires a business to keep track of its Cash Flows, Inventory, Invoices, Payments, and much more. A slight irregularity in this data can lead to huge losses for a company. Therefore, organizations prefer to delegate this task to online tools that provide a secure and error-free platform to track and manage a company’s Finances. QuickBooks is one such popular Accounting Software that serves companies of all sizes.
QuickBooks presents a smooth way for corporations and individuals to track their Income & Expenses and preserve their Financial Health. Accounting, Payment Management, Invoicing, Reporting, etc., are some of the features that QuickBooks has to offer. However, Nonprofits have their unique economic needs. They need to maintain transparency in terms of Financial Transactions and Assets. Currently, QuickBooks is not specially designed for Nonprofits, still, these companies can benefit from its rich feature-set.
This article will introduce you to QuickBooks and will explain how the concept of QuickBooks for Nonprofits works. It will also discuss the types of Nonprofits that QuickBooks can support. Furthermore, the article will list down the different versions of QuickBooks and their usefulness and pricing schemes for Nonprofits. Read along to learn more about using QuickBooks for Nonprofits!
Table of Contents
Introduction to QuickBooks
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QuickBooks is an all-in-one Accounting Software that companies of all sizes use to monitor their Finances and manage their Expenses and Earnings. In 1983, Intuit developed QuickBooks Software as an automation tool for managing Personal, Business, and Tax related Finances. You can use this online tool for services like Invoicing Customer Purchases, Imparting Online Payments, Reporting, and Auditing various Taxes. Moreover, QuickBooks offers its services as multiple variants such as Quickbooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, etc., which you can customize according to your work operations.
Due to its Cloud-based functioning, QuickBooks Online is the most purchased version among the QuickBook products. It serves as a great tool for small to medium-sized companies looking to track their Income, Accounting, Payroll, etc., without the usage of any extra infrastructure. Moreover, QuickBooks Online presents an internet portal using which you can monitor all your Business Accounts from a single platform. Furthermore, QuickBooks Online comes as a mobile application that is available for both Android and iOS users. Using the mobile application you may manipulate the Sales Receipts, Track Expenses, Review Transactions and, Communicate with clients without the constraints of a desktop system.
Key Features of QuickBooks
The various products of QuickBooks offer different features to its users. However, in general, QuickBooks offers the following features:
- Reporting: QuickBooks has an upper hand over accounting solutions like spreadsheets when it comes to reporting. It is primarily due to the simplicity with which QuickBooks allows you to create reports and graphs. QuickBooks provides a feature called QuickBooks accountant that can automate most of the reporting tasks such as maintaining balance sheets, generating profit and loss sheets, maintaining cash flow statements, etc.
- Data Sharing: Using QuickBooks, you can share your data as journal entries directly to clients. This saves you the trouble of printing documents or creating PDFs to transfer your data. You can simply send the journal entries in the form of email attachments. Furthermore, QuickBooks supports widgets that can catch common errors and notify you in case there is a problem or inconsistency in any account.
- Invoicing: QuickBooks enables you to generate Quotations that contain Discounts, Terms of Payment, and other important details. Once you have registered the details, you can convert the Quotation into an invoice with just one click. Moreover, you can customize your payment schedules to receive your money without any clashes or confusion.
- Tracking your Finances: QuickBooks allows you to track your expenses like payroll and rent and monitor your income as well. This way you can always have an accurate estimate of your Financial Health. Furthermore, QuickBooks automatically updates any Cash inflow or outflow related to your accounts and collaborates the data from various accounts into one single platform.
You can learn more about the QuickBooks tool, here.
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Types of Nonprofits Using QuickBooks
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Out of the various Nonprofits operating in the current world, the following can benefit by using QuickBooks for their Financial Management tasks:
- Nonprofits with IRS and UBTI Requirements: Nonprofits need to operate transparently when it comes to managing their Income and Expenses. This constraint complicates the tax calculations when it comes to their Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI). To track all Income Sources and various Expenditures manually to calculate the total Tax for IRS is a cumbersome and error-prone job. Using QuickBooks for Nonprofits, you can segment all of the income from grants and fees into various classes easily. Moreover, you can use different classes for UBTI to track earnings and fees for forms like 990-T. You can avoid creating a separate account to track your finances of different program services by using QuickBooks for Nonprofits.
- Old Organizations and New Startups: QuickBooks offers new Nonprofits a huge boost by providing them accounting in a format similar to Form 990. This way you don’t have to realign your accounts data to match the tax return form necessities. Moreover, QuickBooks suits old organizations like NGOs and Churches by allowing them to customize their accounting systems. This safeguards them from having large arrays of data in multiple files that can lead to extra time and resource consumption for maintenance only.
- Nonprofits Without a Centralized Structure: Often Nonprofits do not have a structure or a centralized office. In such cases storing data on a single member’s desktop is prone to threats and system crash risks. QuickBooks provides a cloud base service for such institutions. Thus with QuickBooks, Nonprofits can store their data on the Cloud and can access it from different systems present at any location. Their data is secure and there is no infrastructure cost involved.
- Nonprofits with 3rd Party Accounting: There are cases when Nonprofits employ a 3rd party accountant to cater to their financial needs. In such cases, the Nonprofits need to provide regular updates regarding their balance sheets and expenses to the accountant. Using QuickBooks Cloud version for Nonprofits you can seamlessly transfer a copy of your latest data to your accountant in a secure manner. The QuickBooks feature automatically generates this copy every quarter.
Benefits of Using QuickBooks for NonProfits
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Nonprofit Organizations can use and benefit from QuickBooks in the following ways:
- Accounting Needs: Nonprofits like any other organization have to maintain systematic accounts. This involves monitoring the expense of diverse programs and income from different sources. QuickBooks for Nonprofits is an ideal tool for Accounting as it automates this type of work. This way you can split the Income and Expenses related to separate accounts in a hassle-free manner.
- Donations and Grants Tracking: A big chunk of Nonprofts’ income comes from donations and grants. They often host Fundraisers and the Income from these functions is severe as their main capital. QuickBooks provides features to consolidate and manage the statistics from these donations and grants. Furthermore, QuickBooks easily integrate with popular Fundraising Websites and directly collects your data from these platforms.
- Reporting: Nonprofits report to a lot of stakeholders such as Trustees, the Board of Directors, Management Staff, and the General Public. Now, depending on the type of stakeholders the reports contain different levels of detail. Using QuickBooks for Nonprofits, you can customize reports for each set of stakeholders and share them with everyone with just a few clicks.
- Integrations: Using QuickBooks for Nonprofits has many advantages when it comes to building strong relations. You can integrate QuickBooks with popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software tools for your communication needs. This ay you can tailor your emails and make optimal communication strategies that can help you retain donors and grow your organization.
Versions of QuickBooks for Nonprofits
There is no exclusive QuickBooks for Nonprofits software program but there are some QuickBooks solutions that can very well cater to the need of Nonprofits, especially in terms of affordability and flexibility. The first aspect you must decide is whether or not you require to use QuickBooks online or as a desktop application. QuickBooks Desktop is downloaded and set up for your pc even as QuickBooks Online runs via the net and makes use of the cloud to shop your information. The main difference is accessibility as QuickBooks Online does not face the constraint of using a particular Desktop system.
QuickBooks for Nonprofit is feasible using the following QuickBooks products:
QuickBooks for Nonprofits: QuickBooks Desktop
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QuickBooks Desktop is an accounting software program designed for computer systems. If you require a secure environment with more control over your accounting data, then QuickBooks Desktop is the right choice for you. Since you have to download and install this version of QuickBooks on your desktop, all the data related to your various accounts will be stored on your system’s drives only. Therefore no 3rd- party user can have access to your files. Furthermore, the working functionality of your QuickBooks Desktop is not dependent on your internet’s speed.
Since QuickBooks Desktop is available only at your desktop, you cant check your data or modify it unless you are present near your system. Therefore, its capabilities aren’t handy anywhere else. Moreover, QuickBooks Desktop does not support a mobile application and even requires manual efforts when it comes to storing data in your accounts. The QuickBooks Desktop for Nonprofits is available under the following plans:
- QuickBooks Premier: QuickBooks Premier offers its services at a one-time charge of $649.99, while its advanced version, Premier Plus, has an annual subscription cost of $499.99. In addition to the functions of Premier, this QuickBooks for nonprofits alternative will include, Up to 5 users, creating income orders, tracking inventory, running donor contributions, etc. In case you choose Premier Plus, you’ll get hold of all the Premier functions, with the extra advantages of limitless consumer support, automatic records backup, and smooth software program upgrades.
- QuickBooks Pro: You can download and install the QuickBooks Pro, for a one-time charge of $399.99. At this price, you will have aces to features that will allow you to Sync nonprofit financial institution debts, Track Sales and Expenditures, Accept Bills and Donations, Track Income Tax, etc. furthermore if you wish services like Automatic Backup, readily available Customer Support, and regular Feature Updates, you can buy the QuickBooks Pro Plus, at an annual cost of $299.99.
QuickBooks for Nonprofits: QuickBooks Online
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QuickBooks Online Plus offers you mobile accessibility due to its cloud-based architecture, something that QuickBooks Desktop application can not provide. Small to medium-sized Nonprofits can benefit from this tool as it simplifies the accounting and expense tracking processes. Moreover, it lets you track the finances of projects separately and later collaborate that data in one place. Therefore, the Nonprofits that develop and sell products can benefit th most from this tool.
All the versions of the QuickBooks Online tool allow you to customize your account as Quickbooks for Nonprofits usage. This way you can modify the general QuickBooks settings to work according to your industry needs. Moreover, You’ll additionally have the ability to make use of fund accounting and control settings for pledges, donations, payment dues, etc. The QuickBooks Online tool is easy to integrate with a number of 3rd party tools that are popular among Nonprofits. The QuickBooks Online for Nonprofits is available under the following plans:
- Simple Start: The most simple and affordable QuickBooks for Nonprofits option, Simple Start comes at a minimum price of $12.50 for the first quarter and $25 per month for the next 3 quarters. This basic version of QuickBooks Online provides you with an online account accessible by one user only. The Simple Start plan offers numerous features like Revenue Tracking, CostTracking, Real-time Receipts, Members and Donors Lists, Tax Calculations, etc.
- Essentials: QuickBooks Online offers the Essentials subscription at $50 per month. Using this QuickBooks for Nonprofits tool, you can utilize all the features present in the Simple Start version and you can have account access for up to three users. Moreover, you can manage your bills, and track your employee time easily through the subscription for no extra price.
- Plus: This is the most popular version of QuickBooks Online when it comes to Nonprofits. It comes at a fee of $40 per month for the first quarter followed by $80 per month for the next 3 quarters. You can Track your Inventory and Generate Custom Reports for various stakeholders with this plan along with all the benefits of the Essentials subscription.
- Advanced: Costing $75/month, this version is best for large Nonprofits that require advanced Data Analytics. This plan provides all the functionalities of QuickBooks Online Plus along with extra features that vouch for faster and more robust accounting. It automates most of your financial work including finance Tracking, Organizing Accounts, Classifying Invoices, etc.
Popular Alternatives of QuickBooks for Nonprofits
QuickBooks can serve the needs of Nonprofits effectively. However, there are other tools available in the market that can act as a good substitute for Quickbooks. The following 2 tools are the most popular alternatives of QuickBooks for Nonprofits:
Aplos Accounting
Aplos is an ideal choice if you’re seeking out an accounting software program designed only for Nonprofits. It offers features like Asset Management, Task Tracking, Forecasting, it is suitable for Nonprofits that require a combination of management and bookkeeping features. This cloud-based tool is available for $59 per month.
NonProfit+ (NonProfit Plus)
It is business management software designed with the objective of simplifying the work of Nonprofits. With Customized Pricing options, NonProfit+ adds a new level of functionality that is easy to use. This software tool is good for large Nonprofits looking for sophisticated finance accounting & management features.
Conclusion
This article introduced you to QuickBooks and listed the different types of Nonprofits that can utilize QuickBooks products. The article further discussed the different versions of QuickBooks for Nonprofits and explained how NonProfits can implement QuickBooks. It further discussed 2 popular alternative tools that can be used Instead of QuickBooks for Nonprofits.
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Abhinav is a data science enthusiast who loves data analysis and writing technical content. He has authored numerous articles covering a wide array of subjects in data integration and infrastructure.