Operational Clarity for Executive Pastors

What do you need from the books?

Six decisions land on your desk, and each one needs a number from the ledger.

None of this asks you to enter a single transaction. Your login can be set up to match: it sees budgets and reports and approves bills, but it can't post entries. See how budgeting works in Grain.

Who keeps the books, if not you?

The treasurer or a bookkeeper, with someone else checking their work. Your job is to supervise it. Tim Samuel, a CPA and CFO, puts it this way on XPastor: "A supervisor does not have to perform every financial task, but the supervisor should be able to ask questions that reveal whether responsibilities are clear and priorities are moving."

Approving bills can be yours: the United Methodist Church's finance agency (GCFA) says invoices must be approved by someone other than the financial secretary or treasurer, and that person should be authorized by the finance committee. In Grain, Starter has 3 users, and Growth and Scale have unlimited users. For the rest of the split, see our guide to segregation of duties.

How do you move the books off spreadsheets?

A spreadsheet leaves someone to work out each fund's balance by hand. Owen Hill, a church treasurer and co-founder of Kleercard, describes exporting the balance sheet to Excel every month and subtracting every restricted balance by hand, so leadership can see what's truly spendable. Fund accounting keeps a balance for each fund from the moment money arrives.

Ramp's guide to church accounting software lays out the move in order: the chart of accounts, then fund mapping, the trial balance and the bank reconciliation, then running the old and new systems in parallel for at least one close. We'll help you make that move from spreadsheets, QuickBooks or Aplos at no charge, mapping your funds, accounts and opening balances with you, and every plan includes One-Click QuickBooks Migration. Our implementation guide covers the rest.

Your giving platform and church management system stay where they are. Grain is the finance ledger, and gifts import into it from the platform you already use. See all integrations.

Before you commit, close one real month on the free Starter plan. TechnologyAdvice suggests running that test with "the person most likely to perform the work, not only the software buyer", so let the treasurer or bookkeeper run the close. You check two reports: budget vs. actual and the fund statement for the board. Starter isn't a trial that expires, and it needs no credit card.

Which plan fits?

Your church's size picks the plan, not your title. Starter is for churches with up to $20,000 in monthly expenses, Growth ($70 a month) for up to $1 million a year in revenue or expenses, and Scale (from $100 a month) for anything larger. Growth connects 3 bank and card accounts. If you have more and you're under $1 million a year, connect the 3 you use most, or choose Scale for $30 a month more. Details are on the pricing page.