Nonprofit Resources
Stewardship in Staffing and Software
As a nonprofit leader, you may sometimes find yourself evaluating current processes and systems and wondering whether you are effectively stewarding the resources entrusted to your organization. Perhaps your long-time accounts payable specialist is retiring, and you’re drafting a job description for their replacement. Maybe you completed a nonprofit operational assessment and received recommendations for new processes, software upgrades, or automations. Or maybe your board members or other stakeholders are asking about business office costs and suggesting software solutions they use in their own organizations.
Many nonprofits hesitate to adopt new software due to perceived time and cost barriers, opting instead to maintain manual processes. However, while implementing improved software might require a commitment of 100 to 150 hours and an initial investment of $10,000 to $15,000, this can be significantly more cost-effective than hiring a new staff member at $50,000 a year to perform tasks that software can handle faster and more accurately.
Choosing a “Sarah” or a “Siri”
As you weigh your options, consider whether you need a “Sarah” (a team member) or a “Siri” (a software solution) for specific tasks. Some team members may be hesitant to trust technology with tasks like processing invoices or generating and distributing reports. But with the right solutions in place and properly configured, software can free up staff to focus on more strategic and impactful work, thereby improving the organization’s overall efficiency.
Let software handle as much of the routine work as it can so your team members can focus on other mission-critical areas. As capable as “Sarah” may be at chasing down corporate credit card users to code their expenses, her time and expertise are better spent elsewhere when “Siri” can do the tracking and organizing instead.
Benefits of Cloud-Based Software Solutions
Cloud-based software offers accessibility and flexibility, enabling ministry staff and leadership to engage more actively in financial processes. This leads to greater ownership, accountability, and transparency. For example:
- Cloud-based expense management enables staff and leadership to submit, code, review, and approve transactions from anywhere with an Internet connection, ensuring that financial data flows smoothly and everyone remains informed.
- Cloud-based budget software allows team members to contribute to budget development in detail, whether for their specific ministry area or the organization as a whole. This can spark collaboration and constructive discussion that leads to a shared understanding that helps everyone know the objectives and steward resources more effectively.
Benefits of Automation
Automated cloud-based software solutions can reduce the time required for financial close processes, providing leadership with faster access to financial data for informed strategic decision-making. For instance, expense management software can accurately sync credit card transactions to your accounting platform in minutes. In contrast, manual entry could take hours or days, depending on the volume, and introduce human errors due to data entry fatigue.
Software solutions also offer enhanced data security through features such as multifactor authentication, routine backups, ongoing security and vulnerability checks, and digital data retention. Relying on staff to manually back up data can lead to inconsistencies, especially when urgent tasks take priority. Automation ensures you never miss this crucial step.
Final Thoughts
“Siri” can handle both the important and the urgent, often simultaneously, while “Sarah” focuses on other tasks requiring human input and insight, such as attending a budget meeting. If your team is still collecting paper invoices and receipts, for example, you are incurring storage costs, increasing the time staff members spend locating and retrieving specific files (particularly if they have been misfiled and are difficult to find), and risking data loss in the event of a natural disaster, or paying “Sarah” to scan and store files electronically. It might be more effective to invest in software that streamlines documentation, ensures consistent backups, and frees up your team to focus on higher-value tasks.
There are software solutions to fit nearly every need and budget. If you’re filling a position in your business office or assessing current workloads, evaluate whether you need to hire a “Sarah” or if a “Siri” could provide increased efficiencies by reducing non-value-added manual tasks and eliminate the need for a new hire.
You don’t have to navigate software implementation alone. Our Consulting team is experienced at assisting with this process and can support your organization every step of the way. Please contact us with questions or to learn more about how CapinCrouse can help your organization optimize your accounting software and automation.
Authors: Stan Reiff, Partner and Professional Practice Leader – Consulting, and Rachel Malone, Supervisor – Consulting
Additional Resources
6 Common Accounting Tech Stack Questions
Accounting Tech Stack Optimization
How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Accounting Tech Stack