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CYMA Systems Inc. — CYMA Not-For Profit Fund Accounting Software

www.cyma.com

CYMA has been offering its Fund Accounting software to nonprofit organizations for 30 years. Modular in design, this system is a good fit for small to mid-sized nonprofits that desire flexibility and scalability.

BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS

CYMA is easily installed in minutes and contains an easily navigated screen with a drop-down menu at the top, along with various tabbed options such as Getting Started, Module Tutorials and New in Version 11 directly below. CYMA uses the eDesk for all system navigation, which is a tool that allows users to fully customize the CYMA main interface screen to contain all of the functions they utilize daily, including frequently used functions, web links and data from other applications.

CYMA provides a long list of modules including the System Manager, GL, AP, AR, Bank Reconciliation, Payroll, Purchase Order, Sales Order, Inventory Control, and Job Costing. Also available are After-the-Fact Payroll and Grant Tracking. All modules integrate with the GL and can be purchased at any time. Also available are additional add-on products such as the MICR Check Package, Online Backup, Crystal Reports and F9 Financial Reporter. 5

CORE NFP/FUND ACCOUNTING CAPABILITIES

CYMA’s account structure is flexible, supporting up to 24 digits, and up to 10 segments per account. CYMA also processes multiple transaction types, including allocated entries, recurring journal entries, invoice and payment transactions, and payroll entries. The system supports an unlimited number of companies, so each fund or grant can be easily maintained as a separate entity, with its own corresponding financial statements and budgets attached. Budgets can be set up by cost category, cost code or cost type. Detail budgets can be set up, as well as budgets for any account number entered into CYMA. The system offers easy integration with Donor Express for easy donor management functionality. The optional Grant Tracking module contains excellent features such as the ability to define each grant entered into the system, create budgets for each grant, and enter funding sources and activities. CYMA also contains several features to ensure proper fund balancing, including the Automatic Offset, Additional Fund Maintenance and Balance features, which provide automatic balancing of even the most complex funds. Users have access to unlimited historical years with cross-year and multiple period reporting capabilities. Separate companies can also be set up for each individual project or program with year-end closings varying based on user or program requirements. Audit trail capability is available for any transaction entry or record update processed through the system. The AP module allows for direct emailing of invoices or statements to customers, and also contains EFT ability, making it easy to process electronic payments directly to vendors. The Bank Reconciliation module allows quick importing of all bank transactions for easy account reconciliation. 4.75

MANAGEMENT FEATURES

The eDesk offers users the ability to create report shortcuts for quick access to organizational statistics. The Financial Calculators available from the eDesk interface offer report options that cover common financial areas such as cash flow and break-even analysis. CYMA also offers quick budget setup with the ability to import budget information from a CSV file. The quick budget feature can also be utilized or budget detail can be entered as needed. CYMA offers multi-level security options that include company, data entry and system function access. Statements are easily emailed from user screens, and user-defined invoices and statements are easily produced. Invoices can also be emailed to multiple recipients if necessary. As previously noted, CYMA integrates with Donor Express, a third-party donor and fundraising software product. Using the requisite System Manager module, documents, images and any other files can be attached to customer, vendor, employee or grant files. 4.25

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS & REPORTING

Financial statements can be easily customized and new reports added. For further customization capability, CYMA can be used with Crystal Reports or the F9 Financial Reporter. The product includes an excellent selection of financial reports and offers nonprofit-specific reports such as FASB 117 Financial statements including Statements of Financial Positions, Statement of Activities and Statement of Functional Expenses. Grant-specific reports include Detail Ledger, Grant Transaction Report and Grant Action Report. All CYMA reports can be exported to a variety of formats, including Word, Excel, PDF, HTML, RTF and XML. 5

INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT

Data can be easily imported from CSV files. All CYMA modules integrate with each other to provide a complete nonprofit financial system. Modules can be purchased as needed. The system also integrates with a long list of third-party products designed to work with the base system, including fixed assets, shipping, time and attendance, and donor management and fundraising solutions. 4.25

HELP/SUPPORT

CYMA offers a solid Help function with an Update Center that offers system users access to all available downloads and software updates. Enrollment in the Software Maintenance program is required for all new users. The CYMA Knowledgebase contains a list of FAQs, along with technical tips. Technical support is available through per-incident and unlimited telephone support plans. Training options vary, as well, with online training as well as onsite consulting. CYMA also provides users with a complete set of user manuals for all installed modules. 5

SUMMARY & PRICING

CYMA Not-For-Profit Fund Accounting is a terrific product, ideal for mid-sized organizations with multiple grant sources, although its modular structure would make it suitable for nonprofits of just about any size. CYMA pricing starts at $645 per module, with typical installations beginning at about $1,945 for three modules. Grant Tracking costs an additional $395.

2010 Overall Rating 4.75

See inside November 2010

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