When your nonprofit was first starting out, it was probably easy to track everything you needed in an Excel spreadsheet. However as your organization continues to grow, your spreadsheet may seem a little bit harder to manage.
If this sounds familiar to you, than it may be time to upgrade to a nonprofit-specific accounting software solution.
Reasons Why Excel isn’t the Best Accounting Solution
Excel is not a long term accounting solution. It’s doable – however as your organization grows it will take you more time to update and re-configure to fit the needs of your mission. Here are just a few reasons why Excel shouldn’t be your accounting platform:
- Unique Programming Language – Excel is complex. It’s almost like you need to learn a programming language to ensure your cells and formulas are set up correctly. And if they aren’t set up correctly, you won’t be able to access the data you need.
- Requires Organization From Setup – When setting up your Excel spreadsheets, it’s almost necessary to know how they are going to work from the get-go. Excel is not flexible enough to allow you to go back and reconfigure cells. This can extend the setup time by hours, prohibiting you from spending time on the mission. This can also mean that if you need to change cells/formulas months from setup, you’ll most likely have to start all over again.
- Reporting – Reporting is essential to your organization. And if you’re trying to create reports through Excel, you’ll most likely be setting up a new spreadsheet every time you need a report. This is because every time you need to change or update information, you’ll need to make sure the rest of the spreadsheet is configured to that change.
- Difficult to Track Transactions – It can be very difficult to track transactions in Excel. For instance, Excel doesn’t automatically check for double entries. This can prevent you from seeing accurate data, skewing your reports and numbers. By using Abila MIP, or another form of nonprofit accounting software, you will automatically know if duplicate entries occur.
- Easy to Change Information – Excel is not the most secure software for financial information. It’s extremely easy for someone to open the spreadsheet and change numbers. And because it’s difficult to track your transactions, it could take you months to figure out that your numbers, and reports, are inaccurate.
By investing in a true nonprofit accounting software, you’re empowering your organization to grow and work efficiently.
Accounting Software at Capital Business Solutions
Are you thinking about switching from Excel to an accounting software platform? Capital Business Solutions offers two accounting solutions to help you streamline and simplify your organizations transactions. Learn more about Abila MIP and Financial Edge NXT by calling us at (843) 971-9061 or filling out the form below.