By: By Tom Dermody

Orientation sessions at four regional locations on April 24 and 25 will introduce standard accounting software that will soon be utilized at all parishes and schools in the Diocese of Peoria.

Moving to a uniform accounting system that improves efficiency and accuracy has been a goal of the diocese for several years, said Jim Stolt, director of the Office of Finance, in announcing the selection of ConnectNow Accounting by ParishSOFT.

“It is a challenge to bring in a system that meets the needs of the largest parishes and schools as well as the smallest,” he told The Catholic Post this week. The ParishSOFT software was selected after a review of several options by a 19-member committee, including priests and business managers from parishes with and without schools.

Stolt said the committee looked for accounting software that is browser-based, easy to use, appropriate for church organizations, is both secure and easily accessible for users, and utilizes a consistent, standard format for financial statements. The ParishSOFT selection was recently approved by the diocese’s Presbyteral Council.

Among the many benefits of the move, Stolt said, is that after implementation over the course of the next year, diocesan organizations will no longer be required to submit a hard copy of an annual financial report. And diocesan finance personnel will no longer have to key in data from multiple systems.

The orientation schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, April 24: 9 a.m., St. Anthony’s, Spring Valley; 2 p.m., Sacred Heart, Moline

Thursday, April 25: 9 a.m., Spalding Pastoral Center, Peoria; 2 p.m., St. Matthew’s, Champaign

80 ORGANIZATIONS TO BEGIN
According to Stolt, several parishes have already volunteered to be among the first group of 80 organizations that will go live on the new ledgers and payables program on July 1, 2013. The rest will be brought on in quarterly intervals during the next fiscal year, with an emphasis on parishes first, then schools, and eventually Catholic cemeteries.

More intensive training for the first users is planned at the Spalding Pastoral Center during the first week of June. An implementation team comprised of diocesan staff and ParishSOFT representatives will coordinate the introductory sessions and training.

Stolt said the Diocese of Peoria implemented a standard chart of accounts in 1996, but over time parishes and schools modified it to their needs utilizing various software programs. After the fiscal years end on June 30, often it is months later until the diocese obtains a written financial report.

“Sometimes parishes were in financial difficulty and we couldn’t know it,” said Stolt. Under the new plan’s “real-time” financial reporting, “in the future when parishes and schools have financial questions, we’ll be able to help them.”

Among other benefits of a unified system, he said, is that “when priests go to a new parish, they won’t have something else to learn.” Also, because the new plan is browser-based, bookkeepers can work from home or other locations outside a parish office.

Stolt added that the move also fits well with the diocese’s emphasis on cooperation between parish clusters, because a uniform system makes it easier for one bookkeeper to potentially work with several parishes from one office.

The Diocese of Peoria will bear the costs of implementation, training, and set-up. An annual license fee, pro-rated according to size, will be charged to the parishes and schools.