2011 Review of Intuit Inc — QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition

Intuit Inc. - QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition
866-379-6636
www.quickbooks.com 

From the November 2011 Review of Not-for-Profit Accounting Systems

Best Fit
QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit 2011 is best suited for smaller nonprofits that are looking to get organized quickly and inexpensively.

Strengths

• Easy installation & system navigation
• Numerous tutorials & training videos available
• Good reporting
• Affordability
• Solid budget tracking
• At-a-glance snapshot of customer activity

Potential Limitations

• Easy to outgrow
• No true grant or fundraising capability

QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition offers nonprofit organizations access to the power of QuickBooks along with a nonprofit-specific chart of accounts. The system can accommodate up to five simultaneous users, making it a good fit for smaller nonprofits.

Basic System Functions - 4.5 Stars

QuickBooks installation is consistently easy, with the product offering an automatic scan of the latest updates, which can be downloaded immediately prior to or after product installation. QuickBooks Premier Not-For-Profit provides a user-friendly interface that can be easily customized to offer as much or as little information as desired. The product is divided into separate navigational areas, making it easy to quickly access the functions desired. Data-entry screens are intuitive with appropriate lookup fields and centers designed for quick access to all related functions. System setup wizards and short tutorials will guide unfamiliar users through the system quickly.

QuickBooks offers a complete financial system, but does not contain separate modules. The Non-for-Profit edition includes Nonprofit, Company, Customer, Vendor, Employee, Online Banking, Document Management, and the Report Center features. A long list of product add-ons is also available, including a payroll option that can be managed by Intuit or by the user. Other add-on options include website creation and hosting and the ability to accept credit cards.

Core NFP/Fund Accounting Capabilities - 4.25 Stars

QuickBooks offers users a standard chart of accounts option suitable for nonprofit organizations or users can opt to utilize the United Way standard chart of accounts. Account structure can be further customized to reflect individual user needs. A new feature in the 2011 version of QuickBooks Premier is the addition of batch invoicing, which allows users to invoice numerous donors simultaneously, making it easy to create multiple invoices for pledges or annual donations. Users will need to get used to QuickBooks terminology, with donations recorded as sales receipts, and pledges booked as invoices. Budgets can be created for each account, with the ability to enter multiple budgets for each class entered in each account. The Class function is where all projects and programs are entered and tracked. Budget detail can be tracked within each class, with Budget vs. Actual easily managed for all donors and projects. Users can track donor information and can easily add specific donor types or levels in order to track donations by type.

Grants can be tracked by adding them into the system as a customer/job, and recording and tracking all activity against that customer. QuickBooks also offers excellent audit trail functionality, and a detailed audit trail report lists all system activity by system user and function. The system provides a long list of electronic features such as direct email invoicing, and the ability to access the system remotely. Other features include an e-payment option, as well as an e-banking function. Direct integration with Microsoft products such as Word and Excel make it easy to produce donor letters and direct mail appeals.

Management Features - 4 Stars