Intuit Inc. — QuickBooks Not-For-Profit 2010

From the November 2010 Review of Not-for-Profit Accounting Programs.

QuickBooks Not-For-Profit 2010 offers a solid nonprofit product designed for startup and smaller nonprofit organizations. Featuring a nonprofit-specific chart of accounts and excellent reporting and tracking capabilities, QuickBooks Not-For-Profit is an affordable choice for small organizations with limited budgets.

BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTION:
QuickBooks products remain some of the easiest to install, with installation taking little more than a few minutes. QuickBooks will automatically scan for product updates after installation, so the installed product will be current.

QuickBooks Not-For-Profit 2010, like all QuickBooks products, offers a user-friendly interface that can appear cluttered, but can be customized to suit each user’s preferences. QuickBooks contains separate navigational areas throughout the product, and tutorials are available for all new users. Data-entry screens are easily navigated and contain the requisite lookup options and drop-down menus throughout. The features offer a main destination for product users to access current data, enter new information or process system transactions.

QuickBooks does not offer modular functionality; rather, it is an “all-in-one” financial solution. QuickBooks Not-For-Profit offers the following features: Nonprofit, Company, Customer, Vendor, Employee, Online Banking, Document Management and Reporting. Intuit also offers a long list of add-on products available for an additional cost, including the APP Center, which provides access to a series of add-on applications designed to make QuickBooks more efficient. Also available is a Payroll option, the ability to accept credit cards, various marketing tools, and web services such as hosting. QuickBooks offers several levels of products and continues to add functionality.

CORE NFP/FUND ACCOUNTING CAPABILITIES:
The system features the basic account structure utilized in all QuickBooks products. QuickBooks Not-For-Profit 2010 offers a nonprofit-specific chart of accounts and also offers the United Way standard chart of accounts. Users can easily add or edit any of the accounts to better reflect their organization’s needs. QuickBooks Not-For Profit 2010 easily handles standard nonprofit transactions with donations entered as sales receipts and pledges entered as invoices.

A separate budget can be set up for each account for the current fiscal year. For multiple budgets, users must set up additional classes within each account. The class function is where nonprofits would set up all programs and projects. Budgets can be easily tracked, with necessary information such as Budget vs. Actual easily monitored for both donors and grants. Donor information can be easily managed in the customer area, with the ability to add specific customer types such as donors under $100 or donors over $5,000, with each easily tracked. Grants will need to be entered into QuickBooks as a customer and job.

QuickBooks Not-For-Profit contains numerous electronic features including the ability to email pledge detail (invoices) directly from the entry screen as well as e-payment and e-banking capabilities that make it easier for smaller nonprofits to keep their records up to date. QuickBooks Not-For-Profit 2010 also makes it easy to provide system access to tax and accounting professionals.

MANAGEMENT FEATURES:
The Company Snapshots feature allows users to choose specific accounts and reminders to display on the Company Snapshot screen. QuickBooks offers password protection with the ability to provide complete system access or select access, with an option available to provide access to a tax and accounting professional, as previously noted. Administrators can choose access levels for each particular system area, and the corresponding level of access permitted. Pledges can be entered into QuickBooks and collection letters produced. Both pledge acknowledgement and collection letters can be sent from the nonprofit navigational center. Fundraising letters can also be written and saved in QuickBooks Not-For-Profit 2010.