2018 Review of Intuit QuickBooks Online Nonprofit Edition

QuickBooks Online’s Nonprofit Edition is best suited for smaller nonprofit organizations that don’t have complex fund accounting needs. QuickBooks Online is available in four versions; Self-Employed, Simple Start, Essentials, and Plus, with each edition offering increased system functionality.

The newest version of QuickBooks Online offers enhanced system navigation including the renaming of the homepage to Dashboard. Banking transactions have been made more prominent on the dashboard as well, and users can now access all customer, products, and services under the Sales option.

To access the nonprofit version, users would simply choose the nonprofit business type when setting up QuickBooks Online. Doing so enables the system to install the correct chart of accounts for nonprofit organizations, with accounts such as Pledges/Donation Receivable, Membership Dues and others included in the chart of accounts. Users can also easily add their own accounts to the default chart of accounts if desired.

Though not a fund accounting system, users can create custom accounts that will allow them to track an individual fund, such as a project or a grant. To do so, user can create up to a seven digit account number and then add an additional sub-account number of the same length. QuickBooks Online handles multiple transaction types, including bank transactions, sales transactions, invoices, donor and customer pledges, voided transactions, regular journal entries including automatic entries.  

Budget capability is limited to QuickBooks Online Plus, with users able to create a budget for a single fiscal year. Budgets can be created based on location, customer, or class, and users can easily create a new budget based on a previous budget. Budget reporting options are limited to the Budget Overview report and the Budget versus Actual report. Budgets cannot be combined, but users can export budgets to Excel if further customization is desired.

QuickBooks Online for Nonprofits can track donations and pledges in the system using the customer management feature, with users able to create donation related documents such as a receipt, pledge or charge, which can be tracked as a cash receipt or accounts receivable. For more in-depth donation tracking, the product offers integration with a variety of donor management apps that will automatically track and later sync data directly into QuickBooks Online. Grant tracking is limited in the system, with users able to create a separate class for each grant handled in the system, tracking all related revenues and expenses for that grant.

QuickBooks Online allows administrators to invite potential users via email. Once set up, users can be placed in one of four categories; Regular/Custom User, Company Administrator, Reports Only Access, or Time Tracking Only. Once a user is assigned a category, further access levels can be assigned to each user. Access level rights include All, None, or Limited.

QuickBooks Online includes solid reporting options, including the ability to produce nonprofit specific reports including Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Cash Flows, and Statement of Activities. Reports are categorized in QuickBooks Online, with available categories including Business Overview, Manage AR, Manage AP, and Review Expenditures and Purchases. There are also Accountants Reports available. All reports can be customized, and users can create report groups for easy future access. Reports can also be run automatically if desired. All QuickBooks Online reports can be viewed on screen, emailed from the report interface, exported to Microsoft Excel for further customization, or saved as a PDF.

QuickBooks Online is a complete financial application, with all features designed to work together. Users can easily import customer, donor, vendor, account, or product details directly into the application using a CSV file format or via Excel. All files must be in a CSV or Excel format for either importing or exporting.

QuickBooks Online users can go to the How-it-Works option to access step-by-step tutorials and webinars. The QuickBooks Online Support page offers users access to a variety of options including a Getting Started option. The Resource Center offers access to a variety of user guides and videos. Users can access support via chat or telephone, or use one of the QuickBooks Pro Advisors for support. There is also a community knowledgebase that offers solutions to common problems. Product support is free during the 30-day trial.

QuickBooks Online’s Nonprofit Edition is best suited for smaller nonprofit organizations that do not require extensive fund, grant, and project tracking. QuickBooks Online is available in four versions; Self-Employed (1-user), which is available for $5.00 a month; Simple Start is $10.00 per month, Essentials $17.00 per month, and Plus $30.00 per month. Both Essentials and Plus versions support multiple users.

2018 Rating – 4.25 Stars