Sage Software's Sage MIP Fund Accounting

Sage Software's Sage MIP Fund Accounting Helps Hundreds of Healthcare Nonprofits Strengthen Organizational Transparency, Governance, and Accountability

Sage Software announced last month that healthcare and health-related organizations across North America are continuing to choose its award-winning Sage MIP Fund Accounting software for nonprofit financial management. To date, more than 850 healthcare and health-related organizations count on Sage MIP Fund Accounting to track and report on multiple funds, across multiple budget periods, to help them meet reporting requirements and demonstrate accountability to their constituents.

"Based on our needs surrounding cost and system flexibility and functionality, Sage MIP Fund Accounting was the best financial management system choice for us," said Beth Smith, director of finance at Crider Center for Mental Health, a community mental health center serving the needs of the Missouri Counties of Lincoln, Warren, St. Charles, and Franklin, and a Sage Software customer since 2001. "We previously used a system designed specifically for community mental health centers, and while it was sufficient for the demographic and billing pieces of our business, it lacked much-needed reporting capabilities, the ability to distribute across various cost centers, and an industry-standard database."

Shawnee Health Service, a nonprofit organization fostering the development of health and social services in southern Illinois and southern Indiana, has used Sage MIP Fund Accounting's General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Encumbrance, and Bank Reconciliation modules since 2003. The organization also uses Sage Software's Abra Payroll product, which links to Sage MIP Accounting.

"We switched from another nonprofit software vendor to Sage Software, because their software required everything to work under one fiscal year, although our grants are under three different fiscal years," said Jeff Cooper, Shawnee's deputy finance director. "With the old system, we entered data into the accounting software, printed out the information, and then re-entered everything into Excel spreadsheets -- all so we could run reports on grants crossing fiscal years. Sage MIP Fund Accounting solved all that for us, plus it is the most cost-effective product we considered."

Sage MIP Fund Accounting continues to be an easy-to-use solution helping healthcare and health-related organizations with complex financial management needs demonstrate transparency and accountability with powerful reporting tools, table-driven charts of accounts, a dynamic Drill-down Analyzer, and more. Sage MIP Fund Accounting makes it easy for auditors to verify financial statement accuracy and organization to maintain a clear audit trail.

"Sage MIP Fund Accounting is so user-friendly, and Sage Software really works to make annual improvements and add quality features," said Eloise Sites, staff accountant for Tallahassee, Fla.-based North Florida Medical Centers, Inc., a private not-for-profit health care corporation providing primary medical services, and a Sage MIP fund Accounting user since its DOS version. "It is beneficial being able to view the current and previous year's financial statements, plus applicable budgets, on one sheet. Sage MIP Fund Accounting also makes the year-end process much smoother, because I can quickly and easily export working trial balances to a spreadsheet and then e-mail the trial balance to my auditor in preparation for the audit."

Using Sage MIP Fund Accounting, healthcare and health-related nonprofits can plan and manage budgets, maximize grants, and produce accurate customized reports in minutes. Adds Cooper, "Sage MIP Fund Accounting's report writer gives us anything we want. We appreciate that we can extract any data we put into the software. We can also create the Statement of Revenue and Expenditures in multiple formats that allow us to satisfy the reporting requirements of our various funding agencies, and create and customize reports, such as our Statement of Activities, for use in our annual audit. Now, the only time we have to export to Excel is to e-mail something."

Adds Smith, "The reports we can generate using Sage MIP Fund Accounting benefit our organization because we report to many different funders, across multiple fiscal years. Things can get pretty complicated if you do not have a system you can trust. That is why the reporting flexibility provided by Sage MIP Fund Accounting is huge."

The product earned a coveted 2005 Campbell Award from Campbell Rinker for its exceptional ratings in the Nonprofit Accounting Software Survey, a nationwide survey of accounting software users.

For more than 25 years, Sage Software has been helping nonprofit organizations further their missions and better serve constituents through the use of technology. Sage MIP Fund Accounting and the range of Sage Fundraising product choices enable nonprofit organizations, regardless of size and budget, to select a solution that best fits their needs.

For more information about Sage MIP Fund Accounting or other Sage Software Nonprofit Solutions, visit www.sagenonprofit.com or call 800-647-3863. For information about other Sage Software products for the healthcare industry, please visit www.sagehealth.com.