The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2008 - (Page 16)

SPECIAL REPORT APIs Continued from page 15 funding requests and the accounting system. Like many organizations, the APF had one software program to manage the grant process from submission through the authorization and payment of awards, and a separate accounting system.The overlap between the two systems consists of the grantee, funding areas and amounts. For grantmaking, the information is part of the larger process of matching resources to community needs; for accounting, it is one part of the larger financial picture. While it was a simple chore to copy payment information from the grants database reports and manually enter them into the accounting program, that strategy had two of the most common shortfalls. Retyping information can lead to data entry errors, such as transposed numbers, skipped records, and misclassification Software for accounting and a custom Microsoft Access database for grants management. “While Peachtree is wonderful for the accounting, I’m not an accountant and didn’t want to learn a second program to do any kind of analysis. I was already using the Access database to manage everything from accepting and acknowledging the applications through producing the board book for our meetings.Adding a budgeting component and some additional reporting to our grants management process allows me to quickly look at individual grantees, the money they’ve received, and their impact in a holistic way.Having both programmatic and financial information about a grantee at my fingertips lets me answer questions more quickly without having to look in multiple places.” The integration of the grants management database with the accounting systems started with laying out basic requirements. The number one need was to be able to produce award checks quickly after the board meetings. This meant that information about the payee and award amount would have to be moved from the grants management database to Peachtree. Likewise,Alexander wanted information about the check number and date issued returned to the grants system for easy reference. After comparing the requirements with the features available in each of the software, staff decided on a process that would The integration of the management database with the grants accounting systems started with laying out basic requirements. of data (where a grant approved for the Health and Human Services category might be entered under Education). Second, the time spend on re-keying data was double work, time that could be better spent. The decision was a simple one for APF’s Executive Director Cleopatra Alexander: invest some time and money in automating the synchronization between the grants management system and the accounting system.“We try to promote a culture of efficiency that minimizes administrative overhead so that we can maximize the number and size of awards we make. I was enthusiastic about the idea as was our part-time accounting manager, who wanted to reduce the number of hours billed on re-entry.” Another opportunity the APF explored was enhancing reporting functionality. “While the financial side of the grantmaking process is important, there were other aspects of our program of giving that we wanted to include in the budgeting and evaluation process.” The APF uses Peachtree by Sage 16 Fulﬁlling Your Mission Takes a Strong Team Strong Software Keeps Them Connected JANUARY 1, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.nptimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2008

The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2008 Expenses Continue To Put Stress On Nonprofit Budgets Insuring Donors’ Goodwill Volunteers On Firing Line Contents Who...When...Where...How...What? Red Cross Audit Comes Up Clean Exit Doors Rear And Aft Calendar A Fresh Look Special Report: Accounting APIs Opportunity Is Knocking Middle Management Barrier Memorial NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2008

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