PowerChurch Plus Review: Features, Pricing & Alternatives 2023

PowerChurch Plus Dashboard

When you open PowerChurch Plus, you’ll be greeted by an empty, blue dashboard. There’s a quick shortcut menu on the left side, but the main navigation will be through the menu bars. The dashboard isn’t as modern-looking as the interface design we see in other popular accounting software products.

Although the developers say that PowerChurch Plus 14 offers a “refreshed” look with bigger fonts and better font style, we still think it’s behind the times when it comes to design. Overall, there’s nothing to do on the dashboard unless you access the menus and open a module.

PowerChurch Plus 14 Refreshed Visuals

In Version 14 of the software, the developers said that they replaced the standard Arial font with the Segoe UI font used in Windows 10. We can also see from the image above that there’s “enlarged” text, except for the menu bars. The developers noted that menu bars may still have smaller font sizes since these elements are dictated by Windows. Although the input forms are a bit old school, Version 14 is cleaner and easier to read because of the new font.

PowerChurch Plus uses a cash-based, double-entry accounting system. It classifies transactions according to funds, allowing you to track fund expenditures and balances separately. For instance, you can keep your building fund separate from your general-purpose fund. You can also enter an unlimited number of transactions, record recurring transactions, reconcile bank accounts, track donor-restricted funds, generate graphs of account balances, and more.

Fund Accounting Menu

PowerChurch Plus includes a default chart of accounts that excludes accrual accounts for A/P and A/R. When you open the chart of accounts, you see an old-fashioned way of viewing the chart of accounts, wherein an account number is assigned to the general categories of assets, liabilities, net assets, income, and expense. For instance, ASSETS is assigned account number 1000-000. However, ASSETS can’t be debited or credited. It’s presented for visual purposes to help organize the chart of accounts.

Chart of Accounts

PowerChurch Plus stores vendor contact and account information, enabling you to record checks, whether they’re computer-printed or handwritten. You can also manage and track recurring payments, such as mortgages, leases, and utility bills. Even though PowerChurch Plus has an A/P feature to help manage your bills, it doesn’t include A/P in the financial statements.

Vendor Records in the A/P Module

If your church has invoiced income, such as room rentals and daycare tuition, you can issue invoices for payment in the A/R module. You can also record unlimited transactions, enter recurring transactions, accept partial payments, and issue credit memos in case of overpayment or data entry errors.

As with A/P, A/R is only a tracker. When you record accrued income, you can see it in A/R, but not in the books. Once it’s paid, the amount will appear in your financial statements.

Invoices and Payments Information in the A/R Module

PowerChurch Plus has a check printing module under A/P, and the form is easy to fill out. You only need to supply the amount of the check, and PowerChurch will generate the amount in words automatically. You can also complete the payee information using the vendor code or by searching the vendor name.

Creating a Quick Check

PowerChurch Plus has a check printing module under A/P, and the form is easy to fill out. You only need to supply the amount of the check, and PowerChurch will generate the amount in words automatically. You can also complete the payee information using the vendor code or by searching the vendor name.

Creating a Quick Check

Unfortunately, you cannot connect bank feeds to PowerChurch Plus. However, it offers good account reconciliation features, which is essential for good bookkeeping. The lack of a bank connection isn’t a problem if you tend to enter transactions in the software as they occur, ensuring you constantly have up-to-date books. However, if you prefer to enter transactions after the fact as they appear on your bank statement, then you want a live bank feed like the one offered in Aplos.

Bank or Credit Card Reconciliation

Power Church Plus allows you to record unlimited payroll transactions. You can set up your unique requirements for payroll, such as pretax deductions and Social Security exemptions. The program tracks employee contact information, salary, position history, emergency contact information, pastor salary, and housing allowance. It even supports all federal and state tax forms.

Payroll Processing Module

Each module contains built-in reports that you can send directly to a printer, email, and share with other users. Every module has a Custom Report Writer that allows you to generate your own reports based on your needs. Reports included in the Fund Accounting module include a balance sheet, income and expense statements, restricted funds, equity accounts, transfer accounts, and liability accounts.

Sample Balance Sheet

The membership management feature has several modules, including personal profiles, family mailing list, activities and skills, attendance, visitations, and ministry services.

Family Mailing List

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Personal Profiles

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Church Activities

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Tracking Attendance

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Visitation Data

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Ministry Services

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Store information about each household, such as the street address, family pictures, and preferred mailing address.

Record individual information like birthdays, cellphone numbers, and email addresses. You can use this module to manage church members and keep track of their participation.

Create different activities like youth group, choir, and women’s ministry. You can use these groups to create email lists, mailing labels, and mail merge letters as well as record attendance and event calendars.

Track attendance records of each individual in an activity. The attendance can be viewed in the member record.

Store visitations that are made by the families listed in the Family Mailing List module. This module keeps track of visitors to your church. Users can also add a description of what happened during the visitation. Visitation data can be accessed in the member record.

Track ministerial services like weddings, baptisms, and funerals performed for people listed in the Personal Profiles module.

The Contributions module helps you manage tithing and donations. The program stores giving records for each individual listed in the Personal Profiles module, and it uses envelope numbers to connect individuals to donation records. You can assign a gift to a specific fund, create different designations within each fund, track recurring contributions, and import contributions from third-party online giving programs like Vanco Payment Solutions.

Entering and Viewing Contributions

Record pledges and track pledge progress for a specific purpose and date range. You monitor track pledges or faith promises on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, or one-time basis. PowerChurch Plus includes built-in reports showing comparisons of pledged to actual donations.

Viewing Pledges per Member

Schedule one-time or recurring events and announce them to your members through email. You can synchronize the Events Scheduling module to Google Calendar to ensure every event goes smoothly. Using the Equipment Inventory module, you can also reserve all kinds of equipment, such as church vans, chairs, and video projectors, and assign tasks to people listed in the Personal Profiles module.

Event Calendar