School Accounting Software:
 The Key To Financial Accountability 

School accounting is different from normal accounting. School accounting generally focuses on fund accounting. A good school accounting computer program should be flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of account codes and reporting requirements according to the size and needs of the school. It must also have strong, built-in, accountability.

For example, to track school activity funds in a small school, you may only need a single account code for each activity. Most smaller schools have fewer accounts and levels of reporting.  They have fewer people to account to, so you don’t want a software program that forces you to enter  “100-digits” of account codes for every transaction. That’s not sensible or practical school accounting.

On the other hand, to track activity accounts in a large school district, you will need many more levels of account detail. For example, not only will the school need to track their own accounts, they need to track the source of all their money... such as program, area, special grant, state funds, federal funds, local funds, etc.

A flexible, easy to use, school accounting program should include the following options:

• Data entry should be quick and easy. It should also be consistent. Vendors, accounts, schools, etc. should only be entered once. For each transaction, the account or vendor should be easy to select from a pull-down menu or pop up window.
   
• The level of account coding should be flexible and customizable to the size of the school. That means your accounting matches the level of detail required by the school… not the level dictated by the software program.
   
• Account codes that are used consistently, should be set as a default to save time and increase efficiency.
   
• School accounting reports should meet school, district, state and federal requirements. Accounting reports should allow the user to select the specific information required… such as the range of accounts, dates, vendors, etc.
   
• Once a reporting period has been finished and reconciled, there should be safe guards to prevent the alteration of prior data.
   
• Larger school districts need to consolidate all school accounting information at the district level. Therefore, a good school software program should simplify the process of exchanging information between the individual school and the district office.
   
• For optimum accountability, the school software should provide options for auditing existing school data and comparing previous year accounts with current year accounts.
   
• The software program should have an automatic method to back up the school accounting data on a daily basis.
   
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the school bookkeeper should have access to a strong technical support group. Most school secretaries are not accountants. They will have questions and they will need answers quickly. If you have to wait days instead of minutes, you’re asking for problems in a school setting.
  (Note: If a large school district does their own support, those persons need access to quality training and support.)

Check out our review of the Student Accounting Software.

Editors Choice

EpesSoftware.com          

• 30 Day Free Trial

• Free Download of Fully Working Demo

• Six-month money back guarantee

• One Year Free Technical Support

Savings Tip: When you contact EPES software, ask them about their special internet discount pricing.