Signals That Your Nonprofit Needs a New Accounting System

There comes a time in every organization when change needs to happen to improve efficiency, meet new goals, or keep up with donor demands.

Change is always hard and changing accounting systems can be difficult for many organizations. Employees are used to working a certain way. The current system is familiar and comfortable. They know precisely how to run reports, input data, and find what they need.

Is It Time for a New Accounting System?

There are certain signs and signals that let you know when it’s time for a new nonprofit accounting system. Do any of these sound familiar?

• Expansion: Your organization has grown since you implemented your original accounting system. Now you’ve got several locations, additional staff, and more volunteers. The current system can’t accommodate all its users. You’re constantly paying more money for additional site licenses so that telecommuting workers and new locations can access the same data.
• Out-of-synch data: Separate systems at numerous locations mean that you’re regularly updating databases so that the information is in sync. You’re feeling frustrated because changes made to one database don’t flow through to others.
• Changing priorities: When you installed your current system many years ago, you just needed to replace a paper-based or spreadsheet-based accounting system with a computerized system. Now, however, you need to track different funds. You’ve expanded your operations and offer more services, but your system can’t handle the newer information. Priorities have changed, but your system hasn’t.
• Forever fixing: “Forever fixing” or “constantly patching” means that you’re always patching, fixing, or tweaking your existing system to get it to work. Maybe it crashes a lot. Perhaps it was infected with a virus last year which your IT people were able to remove, but it hasn’t worked the same way since. It stalls, freezes, or otherwise doesn’t work the way it should.

If you recognize your organization in any of these scenarios, it’s time to consider a new accounting system. You’ll be amazed at what’s available now for mid-sized nonprofits.

Sage Intacct: Powerful Nonprofit Accounting in the Cloud

Sage Intacct is an accounting system that meets the needs of all types of nonprofit organizations. While many of the challenges of nonprofits and for-profit entities are similar—increasing revenue, consolidating across multiple entities, budgeting, etc. —other challenges are unique to nonprofits. Financial leaders for nonprofits also face unique challenges that come from part-time staffing, volunteers, and governance. Nonprofits are not trying to maximize profitability, but impact.

Sage Intacct is cloud based, meaning that it offers the type of flexibility nonprofit organizations need. Cloud-based systems run off the internet, so there’s no software to buy and install. These systems are also accessible wherever you have internet access. You can continue working whether you’re at home or at the office, and you can add additional locations quickly and easily.

Because Sage Intacct is available in the cloud, the data streams in “real time” to the main database and back out to the users. This means that changes made in one location in your company flow through to all users. No more accessing data in one part of your company and finding it differs from data in another part.

Lastly, Sage Intacct can synchronize with other systems, such as membership systems, donor tracking, and more. Your nonprofit can integrate multiple systems into an accounting system and track all its operations.

Watch this video to learn more about Sage Intacct for nonprofit accounting.

If you’ve put off changing to a new system because you were afraid of the downtime or expense, please contact IWI Consulting Group today. We work with nonprofits to transition them into new systems and help them enhance their business and accounting processes. We can help you select the best accounting system for your needs and help you transition to a new system with minimal disruption and downtime. For more information on Sage Intacct for nonprofit accounting, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.