Running Quickbooks in Nonprofits: The Only Comprehensive Guide for Nonprofits Using Quickbooks - Brossura

Ivens, Kathy

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1932925309 ISBN 13: 9781932925302

Casa editrice: Cpa911 Pub, 2011

Riassunto

Updated to include additional topics and to cover all versions of the software, this guide provides the most vital information on using QuickBooks to track financial data in nonprofit organizations. Management of donors, grants, and pledges, and topics such as allocating expenses to programs, handling donor restrictions, and generating the reports needed for donors and tax returns are covered in detail. In addition to easy-to-follow instructions and many tips and workarounds, information on using QuickBooks for fundraising is provided. With detailed explanations of transaction entries, report customization, and other accounting requirements, this handbook is a must-have for nonprofit board members, accountants, and bookkeepers.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Kathy Ivens is the senior contributing editor for Windows IT Pro magazine and she writes regularly about computer and small business topics for a variety of periodicals. She is the author of more than 50 books, including Home Networking for Dummies, Quickbooks: The Official Guide, and Running Quickbooks 2010 Premier Editions. She lives in Philadelphia.

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Running QuickBooks in Nonprofits

By Kathy Ivens

CPA911 Publishing, LLC

Copyright © 2011 CPA911 Publishing, LLC
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-932925-30-2

Contents

Chapter 1: QuickBooks Limitations for Nonprofits, 
Chapter 2: Getting Started, 
Chapter 3: Chart of Accounts, 
Chapter 4: Configuring Preferences, 
Chapter 5: Configuring Classes and Lists, 
Chapter 6: Managing Revenue, 
Chapter 7: Managing Expenses, 
Chapter 8: Managing Bank Accounts and Cash, 
Chapter 9: Budgets and Projections, 
Chapter 10: Producing Reports, 
Chapter 11: Year End Activities, 
Chapter 12: Audits, 
Chapter 13: Managing QuickBooks Files, 
Chapter 14: Managing Users and Security, 
Chapter 15: QuickBooks Fundraising Tools, 
Chapter 16: In-Kind (Non-Cash) Revenue, 
Appendix A: Nonprofit Accounting Issues, 

CHAPTER 1

QuickBooks Limitations for Nonprofits

General limitations

Chart of accounts limitations

Accounting restrictions

Reporting limitations

Other annoyances

The way QuickBooks is designed and programmed presents some limitations in the features that are needed by nonprofit organizations. This is true for all editions of QuickBooks, including the QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition, and the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Nonprofit Edition. However, there are ways to set up and use QuickBooks that ease the impediments these limits impose. Those workarounds and adaptations are a large part of this book.

If you've been using QuickBooks for a while, you're probably aware of most of the limitations (which are discussed in this chapter). However, I've found that users, and even bookkeepers, aren't aware of the severity of some of these confines, because they haven't been exposed to other more expensive and more powerful nonprofit accounting software programs.

If you're new to QuickBooks, it's important to understand the limitations, so you can plan the way you're going to use the software with those restrictions in mind. QuickBooks is a basic, no-frills software application. You're probably using QuickBooks for your nonprofit organization for one (or more) of the following reasons:

• It's inexpensive

• It's easy to use

• Your bookkeeper is familiar with it.

• An accounting professional connected to your organization is comfortable with it, and recommended it

These, and other, reasons for using QuickBooks are all valid, but you must remember that the software isn't designed for nonprofit accounting, even though you can adapt it for that purpose. As is true for the application of many "adaptive" technologies, you won't end up with everything you need or want.

As a result, some nonprofits that use QuickBooks spend more money on accounting services than nonprofits using full-featured nonprofit accounting applications. Those accounting tasks are necessary to overcome the limitations in QuickBooks when it's time to file reports with the government, funding agencies, or the nonprofit's board members.

However, that extra expense is not necessarily a negative; it's balanced by the advantages QuickBooks offers. QuickBooks costs less to run and maintain than many nonprofit accounting applications, and it's not difficult to find users who are very comfortable with QuickBooks.

QuickBooks can be adapted to work reasonably well for small nonprofit organizations that obtain the majority of their funding from unrestricted sources. "Small" is, of course, a relative term, and I don't have a firm definition to offer. However, I don't think I'd try to use QuickBooks

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Cpa911 Pub
• Data di pubblicazione: 2011
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1932925309
• ISBN 13: 9781932925302
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 2
• Numero di pagine: 512
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile