Why Configure Finance in CiviPlus?
CiviPlus provides powerful features for codifying and reporting financial information. Whilst not essential for using CiviPlus, configuring CiviPlus for accurate financial reporting can provide a wealth of benefits including:
Data Reporting
With clear financial configurations, you can generate detailed and accurate reports on donations, membership income, event revenue, and other financial activities split by various types and categories. These reports provide actionable insights for stakeholders and aid in decision-making.Finance System Integration and Reconciliation
CiviPlus also allows you to extract financial data which will import to accounting systems like Xero, Sage or QuickBooks. It also streamlines reconciliation processes by ensuring transactions in your CRM align with your organisation’s financial records.
By configuring your finance settings correctly, you lay the foundation for accurate reporting, seamless integration with accounting systems, and efficient reconciliation processes, enabling your organization to operate with greater transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency.
Key Financial concepts in CiviPlus
Before diving into the configuration process, it’s essential to understand the core components that make up the financial framework in CiviPlus. These include:
Item | Description |
Financial Types | At the most basic level, you can use Financial Types to categorise transactions based on their purpose (e.g., donations, event fees, or membership dues). These types serve as the foundation for accurate reporting and integration with financial systems.
Whilst you can simply use financial types as a field to categorise income via contributions, you can also link financial types to financial accounts (see below). This is where the magic of CiviCRM financial power starts to happen! |
Financial Accounts | CiviPlus creates journal entries for all transactions. You can configure these CRM transactions to specific Financial Accounts matching your Accounting systems general ledger (or chart of accounts) in order to maintain consistent records between systems and enable seamless reconciliation. |
Payment Methods | Payment methods are CiviCRM's equivalent to "bank accounts". For each payment method you can record income into a relevant bank financial account. |