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10 May 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com NOT-FOR-PROFIT Reviews BEST FIT AccuFund Accounting Suite for Nonprofits is modular, scalable nonprof it soft ware that is well suited for mid-sized and larger nonproft organizations, including enter pr i se-level ent it ies those managing hundreds of millions in funds. Available in both desktop format and as an online/cloud- based solution, AccuFund offers f l e x i b i l i t y a l o n g w i t h s o l i d accounting functionality. STRENGTHS • E x c e l l e n t s c a l a b i l i t y w i t h v a r y i ng ed it ion s a nd opt ion s available • Ofers complete nonproft man- agement including grant man- agement and donor management capability • Solid reporting capability • Extensive budgeting options • E xcel lent selec t ion of add-on modules available POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • Users may have to invest some t i me a nd mone y i nto s y s tem training SUMMARY & PRICING AccuFund is a solid, nonprof it product well suited for - nonprofts that require a scalable product that ofers both grant management and donor management capabi lit y. AccuFund ofers both a standard and professional edition of its desktop product as well as Accu- Fund Anywhere, which is Cloud- based, ofering further fexibility. Pricing begins at $2,995 for a single user system with additional mod- ules priced between $1,295 and $2,495. AccuFund Anywhere starts at $190 per month for the frst user, w i t h s u b s e q u e n t u s e r s e x t r a . A d d - o n m o d u l e s a r e p r i c e d between $80 and $110 per month. www.accufund.com AccuFund Accounting Suite for Nonprofts Read the full review and see expanded ratings for this product online at: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/11429025 5 2014 OVERALL RATING How AccuFund Helps a California Nonprofit Serve its Community Nestled in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, Calaveras and Amador counties are very rural, with the largest towns in the two counties averaging only about 4,000 in population each. The pastoral nature of the area is one of the challenges faced by The Resource Connection (TRC), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that helps provide social and educational programs to communities and families in the region, because towns are widely spread out. Before AccuFund Founded in 1981 with an initial focus on what were then termed "women's issues," such as child care and domestic violence issues, TRC has expanded to include a crisis center, food bank, prevention education, child care resources, food and nutrition assistance, and it manages the head start programs in the two counties. As the organization's finance director, Michelle Gonzales oversees all of the day-to-day management of TRC's resources and staff. With a paid staff of 130, the organization is primarily funded via state and federal grants for its various programs, and also runs some county programs. This requires extensive fund management tracking and allocation functions, which was one of the key factors when the organization was searching for a new financial management system. Finding the Right Nonproft Solution The organization had been using a traditional fund accounting program, but the program was not meeting all of TRC's needs, especially since TRC didn't have enough IT staff to effectively manage the technology aspects at the organization's 17 separate locations in the rural area. Hosting the program on its own servers and maintaining the updates were only two parts of the problem, but much more significant was TRC's need to strictly track more than 65 grants and contracts, manage multiple departments and generate detailed reporting for compliance and management purposes. When TRC discovered the AccuFund Accounting Suite, Gonzalez said they knew they had found the perfect solution to their needs. The program includes core modules for GL, AP, AR, purchase orders, financial and budget reporting, user security levels, and FASB reporting, as well as options for grant management, payroll, human resources, employee time entry, asset management, inventory and allocation management. Also, AccuFund hosts the program, relieving TRC of IT headaches. "I love that it is hosted through AccuFund; it made it so much easier to roll out the program and for our staff to access and log in," she said. "All they need is a connection to the Internet. And the system allows directors to run their own reports and look at numbers on a day-to-day basis so they aren't making frequent requests from the accounting department." AccuFund also offers accounting systems for smaller nonprof- its, government entities, and fundraising management systems. The payroll and human resource management functions have dramatically improved efficiency at the organization, Gonzalez said, because staff can easily log in to enter time worked on projects, check their own pay stubs, record sick and vacation time, use secure messaging and share information. Timesheets are automatically sent to supervisors for approval. Much better than the tedious Excel-based routine they used before, which made distribution difficult, required frequent journal entry changes and resulted in lost and incorrect timesheets. The staff like it better too, and for some workers it's as easy as using a thumbprint bioscanner timeclock to check in and out of work, with data automatically posting to the AccuFund system. A further benefit, Gonzalez noted, was that AccuFund has helped her have stronger internal controls, especially with purchase orders and requisition routing. Training and Implementation To get started and trained with AccuFund, the group worked with ComputerWorks NFP Solutions, a California company that helps nonprofits. Gonzalez said the program was very easy to use and set up, and ComputerWorks helped them build the exact report- ing they needed, while AccuFund's support team has always been very fast and responsive. "We love working with AccuFund because they really listen, and they are constantly working to add new features and capabili- ties as the need comes up." S P O N S O R E D C O N T E N T READ THE 2014 REVIEW OF ACCUFUND FIRST-HAND www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/11429025 cpa_6-11_NFPReview.indd 10 5/7/14 8:52 AM