Fund accounting as a technical term is quite specific.  It means that
   for every transaction there are four entries made, as opposed to
   traditional bookkeeping where there are only two made (double entry).
   For example, in traditional acctg, when a check is written, an expense
   category is debited and cash is credited.  In fund accounting, that
   same transaction would involve the same debit and credit to expense
   and cash, with an additional pair of balancing entries to a fund
   balance and a "due to/due from" account.

   The only reason I mention this is to show that actual Fund Accounting
   software will work quite differently from normal business accounting
   software.  Depending on how your organization is funded (ie lots of
   restricted program grants or more general revenue) normal cost-center
   based accounting can be adequate.  In a 2 million dollar nfp in which
   I used to be responsible for finances (along with most everything
   else), we actually used a manual system that was essentially a
   cost-center based accounting system.

   Do you know the expression "MEGO" it stands for "my eyes glaze over"
   which is what I think happens when anyone discusses accounting...

   Eric Siegel
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