Accounting 5.0 is the first major update to our programmed accounting spreadsheets since 2016. It provides a free, not-for-profit-specific desktop-based alternative to accounting software.
It requires Microsoft Excel, but will still happily work for Excel versions from 1997. It will not work with any other spreadsheet software. Note that Microsoft Excel can be obtained by registered charities for a small admin fee from TechSoup.
New features
Modular set-up
Up to version 4.1, different versions existed depending on GST or Charity registration. Version 5.0 has a separate set-up sheet that allows users to add modules such as grants, projects, budgets or GST – or keep it free from clutter if they are not required. Bank account columns are now also added according to user set-up rather than showing by default.
Naming of Bank Accounts
Users can now name their bank accounts in the set-up sheet, instead of having to work with our old default names (‘cheque’, ‘project 1’, ‘project 2’ and ‘savings’).
Updated grant balance in Transactions Sheet
It is important to avoid overspending a grant, as that will mean touching your reserves. To help with this, a new column in the Grant section of the Transactions sheet shows the current grant balance for the grant that is selected, without having to switch to the ‘Grants’ tab.
Date range option for all reports
All reports, except for grants, now work with a specified date range, including project reports.
Income/expenditure reports for specific grants continue to show all transactions from when the grant was received.
Improved grant table
The grant table now has extra columns for the date of receipt and the purpose of the grant, to help with identifying each grant and with end-of-year reporting (many charities have to report the purpose of any unexpended grant).
Negative balances, indicating an overspent grants, are now highlighted in red, and the words ‘Grant Overspent!’ appear next to the row to alert users.