🎬 Watch the step-by-step video: Walkthrough: How to do month-end
Gracely Accounting helps your church keep the books in one place. Track every dollar by fund, record money in and money out, and turn it all into reports you can hand to your board.
⚠️ Note: Accounting is a Pro plan feature.
The building blocks
Accounts are where money actually lives. Your bank account, a savings account, or a cash box. You can also add liability accounts for things like a credit card or a loan.
Funds are what the money is set aside for. General Fund, Missions, Building Fund. Every transaction belongs to a fund, so you always know how much each fund holds.
Categories explain why money moved. Tithes and offerings on the income side. Utilities, salaries, and maintenance on the expense side.
Payees are who you pay or receive money from. Vendors, staff, service providers.
👉 Log in to Gracely to follow along.
Step 1: Create your accounts
Go to Accounting → Accounts.
Click Add account.
Enter the account name and choose Asset or Liability.
Set the opening date and starting balance.
Click Create account.
Accounting → Accounts: ① Add account. ② An account connected to the bank shows Connected. ③ Sync pulls in new bank transactions. ④ Connect links an account to its bank.
① Account name ② Asset or Liability ③ Balance ④ As of (Statement date), your opening date ⑤ Which funds is this money for? ⑥ Create account.
Use one account per real bank account or cash box. Your books should mirror reality.
💡 Tip: You can link each account to your real bank and pull transactions in automatically. See Connecting your bank account and syncing transactions.
Step 2: Set up your funds
If you already use Giving, your funds are already here. If not, create the funds your church tracks, like General, Missions, or Building.
Step 3: Add categories and payees
Go to Accounting → Accounting Settings.
On the Categories tab, add income and expense categories with clear names.
On the Payees and Vendors tab, click Add payee to add your regular payees. You can give a payee a default category so future entries fill in faster.
Accounting Settings: ① the Payees and Vendors tab ② Add payee. Categories are on the tab next to it.
Step 4: Record transactions
Go to Accounting → Register.
Click Add transaction → Add new transactions and choose Money in or Money out. A check is a Method; to move money between accounts, use Move money on the account page.
Choose the date, fund, category, payee, and amount.
Click Add and close. Balances update instantly.
From the Register, click Add transaction → Add new transactions. ① Money in or Money out ② To which account? ③ Method (Check, Cash, ACH and more) ④ Category & fund ⑤ Split transaction ⑥ Add and close.
See the full guide: Recording transactions: income, expenses, transfers, and checks.
If your account is connected to your bank, you can also click Sync to pull in transactions and review them instead of typing them by hand.
Step 5: Run your reports
Go to Accounting → Reports. You get four: Income Statement, Fund Balance Summary, Balance Sheet, and Transaction Detail. Pick a date range, filter, and export.
Accounting Reports: ① pick a report tab ② choose the period ③ Export to PDF or CSV.
See the full guide: Understanding your accounting reports.
Best practices
Match accounts to real bank accounts.
Give every transaction the right fund. This is what makes your fund balances trustworthy.
Review reports monthly.
Keep personal and church money separate.
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