Features / Fund accounting
Fund accounting that enforces itself
A fund is a promise about money. Vestry is built so that promise can't be broken by a typo — or by a busy week.
What "true" fund accounting means
When the Friesens give $500 to Missions, that money isn't the church's in a general sense. It's the mission committee's to spend, and the treasurer's to protect. Accountants call this a restricted fund; congregations call it keeping your word.
Most software handles this with tags. Tag a transaction "Missions" and reports can filter by it later. The books balance overall, so nothing complains when a tag is missing or wrong — and a wrong tag is exactly how restricted money leaks into the light bill.
Vestry makes the fund part of the ledger itself. Debits and credits must balance within each fund, on every entry, checked by the database before anything posts. An entry that moves money between funds has to say so explicitly, as a transfer anyone can see. There's no quiet way to do the wrong thing.
| From General Fund | −$5,000.00 |
| To Building & Grounds | +$5,000.00 |
| Approved | council minute 2026-14 |
What this gets you in practice
Answers on the spot
"Can we afford the furnace repair from Building?" is a ten-second lookup, because the fund balance is a real ledger balance, not a report you have to build and squint at.
Statements by fund, free
The balance sheet and income statement split by fund without any setup. Your annual report to the congregation stops being a spreadsheet project.
A calmer annual review
Reviewers check restricted funds first. When every entry balanced by fund all year, that part of the review is a formality instead of a dig.
Trust you can show
When a donor asks what happened to the memorial gift, you can show them the fund, every transaction, and the balance. That conversation builds giving more than any campaign.
Funds aren't a feature we added. They're the first table we designed.
Next step
Set up your funds in an afternoon
General, Missions, Building, Memorial — bring your fund list and opening balances, and the ledger takes it from there.