To start, I want to clarify that I have not researched all the options out there for tracking spending electronically, but I am going to feature one product that has been revolutionary in our church planting experience. The system we've used at The Vine has not only blessed us in the early years of church planting, but would have been a helpful shift in the way expense tracking was handled in my previous church experiences as well.
The product I am referring to is Expensify. For more detailed information on the product, go check out the website here. For a quick look at how we use the product, which is free for the first two users and $5 a month for each additional, read on.
To set-up your account, you have the ability to either customize spending categories in the program or to import those categories from your book keeping software like Quickbooks. Once the accounts are set-up, the users download the app onto their smartphones (droid or iPhone) and are ready to go. From that point forward when any purchase is made either on a church credit card (or personal card for reimbursement) the expense is entered into the app and a photo is taken of the receipt, which is then attached to the spending record. This means no more fat wallets or lost receipts, because they are all stored digitally in your Expensify account! In the featured image you can see what the expense form looks like on the iphone.
The last step for the employee is to file their monthly spending report by going online and pulling all the expenses into a report which is submitted by the click of a button to the book keeper for processing. And there you have it, an essential expense tracking tool for church planters!
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