Accounting Overview

Why TimelyChurch Includes Built-In Accounting

Most church management platforms handle giving and people management but leave accounting to a separate tool like QuickBooks or spreadsheets. That means double entry, manual reconciliation between systems, and extra subscription costs. TimelyChurch eliminates all of that by integrating a full-featured accounting module directly into the platform.

Plan Requirements: The Accounting module (Chart of Accounts, Transactions, Reconciliation, Bills, Recurring Transactions, Journal Entries, full Reports), the Giving module, and the Budgets module are included on the Pro plan ($129/mo founding price for the first 25 churches, then $149/mo list). On lower plans these items appear in the navigation as "locked" with an upgrade prompt. Basic Finance Dashboard metrics remain available on every plan.

When a member gives online or a treasurer records a cash offering, TimelyChurch automatically creates the corresponding income transaction in your books. There is no CSV export, no manual posting, and no risk of data falling through the cracks. Your giving data and your financial records live in one place.

Key Benefits

• Automatic donation posting -- Every donation recorded in the Giving module is automatically posted as an income transaction in Accounting, mapped to the correct fund.
• Split donation support -- When a donor splits a gift across multiple funds (for example, $500 to General Fund and $300 to Building Fund), TimelyChurch creates separate accounting transactions for each allocation so fund-level reporting is always accurate.
• One login, one platform -- Treasurers, pastors, and administrators access giving records and financial reports from the same dashboard. No switching between apps.
• Real-time balances -- Account balances update instantly when transactions are created, edited, or deleted.
• Church-specific defaults -- The built-in Chart of Accounts template follows nonprofit accounting standards with account numbers and categories that make sense for churches.

How Giving Flows Into Accounting

Here is how the automated bridge between Giving and Accounting works:

1. A donation is recorded -- either through online giving, a manual entry by the treasurer, or a deposit batch.
2. TimelyChurch's Donation Accounting Service checks for an active income account (it looks for account 4000 "Tithes & Offerings" first, then falls back to any active income account).
3. If the donation has fund allocations, one income transaction is created per fund allocation. If there are no allocations, a single transaction is created for the full amount.
4. Each transaction includes the donor name, payment method, fund name, check number (if applicable), and a reference number linking back to the original donation.
5. The account balance is recalculated automatically.

Tip: If a donation is later edited or deleted, the corresponding accounting transactions are automatically updated or removed -- unless they have already been reconciled with a bank statement. Reconciled transactions are preserved to protect the integrity of your completed reconciliations.

Two Modes: Simple and Advanced

TimelyChurch offers two accounting modes to match your church's needs. The first time you open Accounting, a short setup question asks who handles the books for your church and sets the mode for you -- and you can switch any time afterward.

Simple Checkbook Mode

A streamlined view that works like a digital checkbook. You record money coming in and going out, see a running list of deposits and payments in the Check Register, and produce a one-page Treasurer's Report. This is ideal for smaller churches where a volunteer treasurer, pastor, or admin manages the finances and full double-entry accounting is not needed. In Simple mode, the Transactions tab is relabeled Money In / Out, income and expenses appear as Money In and Money Out, and the more technical screens (Chart of Accounts, Budgets, Journal Entries) are hidden.

Full Accounting Mode (Advanced)

The complete accounting experience with a Chart of Accounts, categorized transactions, manual journal entries, bank reconciliation, budgets, bills, recurring transactions, and full financial reports including a Trial Balance, General Ledger, and audit trail. This mode is designed for churches with a treasurer or finance committee -- or a bookkeeper or CPA -- that needs standard nonprofit financial statements.

You can switch between modes at any time from Settings → Accounting. No data is lost when switching -- both modes use the same underlying numbers, and the mode only changes labels and which screens are visible.

What Is Included in the Accounting Module

Finding Your Way Around

The Accounting module is organized as a tab bar across the top of the page:

• Dashboard -- your financial overview.
• Check Register -- the checkbook-style running list per bank account.
• Transactions -- record and manage income, expenses, transfers, and journal entries (shown as Money In / Out in Simple mode).
• Giving -- the Giving module.
• Bills -- vendor bills and payments.
• Reports -- the reporting hub.

The remaining setup and configuration screens live under a single dropdown at the end of the tab bar. In Full Accounting mode it is labeled Setup ▾ and contains Chart of Accounts, Categories, Payees, Budgets, Reconciliation, Journal Entries, Trial Balance, General Ledger, and Audit Log. In Simple Checkbook mode the same dropdown is labeled More ▾ and shows a reduced set (Categories, Payees, Reconciliation, Trial Balance, General Ledger, and Audit Log).

To add a record, use the New Transaction button on the Transactions page. It is a split-action menu with options for New Expense, New Income, New Transfer, New Journal Entry, Import from CSV, and Export CSV.

Getting Started

If you are setting up accounting for the first time:

1. Open Accounting from the Finances area. The first time, a short setup question asks who handles the books for your church -- pick Simple Checkbook or Full Accounting (you can change this any time in Settings → Accounting).
2. (Full mode) On the Chart of Accounts page, click Load Template to populate it with the standard nonprofit church account list, then review and customize the accounts -- rename them, add account numbers, or remove any you do not need.
3. Set up your income and expense categories from the Categories page (under Setup ▾ / More ▾). Click Create Defaults for a starter set of standard church income and expense categories, then customize from there.
4. Enter your account balances as of the day you started using TimelyChurch on the Opening Balances page (called Starting Balances in Simple mode). Pick a cutover date and enter the amount in each account on that date.
5. Start recording transactions. Any donations already entered in the Giving module will automatically appear as income transactions.

Tip: You do not need to set up everything at once. Start with your bank accounts, opening balances, and categories, then add budgets and recurring transactions as you get comfortable with the system.

Year-End Close

At the end of each fiscal year, TimelyChurch provides a guided Year-End Close workflow that finalizes the year's books, locks the period from accidental edits, and rolls retained earnings into your equity accounts. See Year-End Close for the full prerequisite checklist and step-by-step process.