Our old tresurer used Quick BOoks Pro, because she had it on her business computer and just created a company PTO.

I couldn't transfer her files to the cheaper version of Quickbooks I owned, and didn't want to buy Pro.

Whatever you do, make is something that you can transfer to the next person doing it.

I set mine up in Microsoft Office Accounting. The simple version has everything you need and it's free. I was able to transfer my two years to the new treasurer and she was able to hit the ground running.

Yes, it's convenient to be able to just print Box Tops category and get the net income ($1000-$100).

However ... the IRS needs you to report gross income, so I think your inclination to have a "box tops expenses" category is correct. Then you should be able to quickly associate the income and expense for the net to report to your group, and also have the numbers separated for the IRS.

If you are using ptomanager-- box tops would go under income- since you are fundraising for this--- but there are some expenses while fundraising this category-- if everything is under one category" Box Tops" when you print off the forms for pto meeting-- parents can see what amount has been spent from which account, or how much has been made from that account-- it works quite well for us...

I just took over the Treasurer position for our PTO and have a question....all of the previously set up categories in expenses and incomes have checks as well as deposits listed within each one...this is with Quicken. I do not understand the need for that. Example: Box Top income category has a deposit of $1000.00 but then also when baggies or something was needed a check for $100.00 was written using the same income category...I am confused...can someone please tell me why it would be this way instead of listing a debit as an expense category? Thanks so much.

You must get your school to approve the Finance Manager purchase - it's very easy to use and is a good accounting package. Keeping financial records on Excel is an accounting "no no" (I have an accounting degree and that makes me very nervous.) Our prior PTO did that and we never knew what money was flowing through the books. Also, Finance Manager is much cheaper than Quick Books or any other Non-profit software out there.

If you haven't used any computer system in the past, I suggest you use PTO Today's Finance Manager. I've used quicken in the past, but like the others said, quicken has its limitations, especially in the report layouts. And there are so many features in quicken or MSMoney that a PTO DOESN'T need, that it can be very confusing to learn the basics that you do need. Excel is nice for tallying and adding, but you have to build your system from scratch, and you still won't have a complete accounting system. Finance Manager has just the stuff a PTO needs.