When new nonprofits start their journey, most often they choose QuickBooks as their financial management partner. With easy to use interface, QuickBooks accomplishes some of the basic accounting and reporting tasks competently. This works well for nonprofits with an uncomplicated funding structure. However, as organizations grow that necessitates managing multiple funds, QuickBooks certainly falls short. A host of functions such as grant management, restricted funds management, volunteer management etc. need to be performed efficiently. And QuickBooks cannot rise up to the challenge.
What are the limitations for QuickBooks?
As you choose your financial management software, be sure to consider the following drawbacks of QuickBooks:
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Limited Accounting Capabilities: Nonprofits are required by law to report expenses according to donor restrictions. Expenses further need to be separated according to functions such as management, fundraising, administrations and program. QuickBooks is unable to cater to this requirement, as it can only create general ledger accounts.
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QuickBooks is unable to provide budget reporting support. Most nonprofits end up using offline tools for budget reporting. This has a lot of pitfalls if budgeting is done manually. It is not only time consuming, it adds to operations overhead as additional personnel is needed. Moreover, it is prone to human errors of data inaccuracies. Needless to say, lack of transparency also becomes an issue to contend with.
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QuickBooks is unable to keep a track of audit trails. This creates serious security and control issues at the nonprofit finance department.
What [is] could be a Suitable Alternative?
Cloud ERP solutions are fast changing the nonprofit financial management scenario. With a robust set of functionalities, they have made nonprofit accounting management much more efficient. Some of these features include grant management, restricted funds management, audit trails, budget verification, volunteer management and many more.
Why Acumatica for Non Profit?
Acumatica Nonprofit Accounting Suite is a dominant player in the not-for-profit sector. CASE (Council for Advancement and Support Education) has successfully migrated to Acumatica from QuickBooks. As an international nonprofit, CASE was using different financial management tools in different location. While their Singapore, London, and Mexico offices were using QuickBooks, the main office was using Dynamics SL. Considering the various limitations of QuickBooks, the organization migrated to Acumatica in 2013. And needless to say, the outcome has been enhancement in financial data management.
Partner with ASC to explore Acumatica Nonprofit Accounting Suite
ASC has been at the forefront of implementing cloud ERP solutions since the past two decades. Recently, the company has been honored with an award from Acumatica for superior customer satisfaction and value addition (Video 1).
Video 1: Video on Value Proposition; Acumatica & Advanced Solutions and Consulting
A leading certified Acumatica reseller, ASC commands extensive knowledge on the nonprofit industry. We take time to understand your business needs and suggest appropriate ERP solutions. Our experienced and expert cloud ERP team has successfully deployed 100’s of ERP software including the nonprofit market.
We are full service providing need analysis, business and technology audits; on-time project management; flowcharting for process engineering and training and support. Our sole motto is your competitive advantage. We promise to be your trusted partner through the before-during-after lifecycle of your ERP solution implementation.
Please contact Jim Carroll: @ jcarroll@solutionsco.com; 310 508 9700; President Advanced Solutions & Consulting; Solana Beach, CA