BeeKeeper vs. the binder
The short version
What paper cannot do is be in two places at once. It cannot be searched, it cannot be backed up, the board cannot see it between meetings, and in June it has to be carried to somebody else's kitchen table and explained.
Side by side
20 things a school group actually needsWhere the binder runs out
The register, the receipts and the statements are wherever the treasurer keeps them. When the president needs a number on a Tuesday night, the answer is 'I will look tomorrow'.
One spill, one move, one basement flood. A paper ledger has survived every year it has survived, which tells you nothing at all about next year.
The handoff is a box and an afternoon. Everything the next treasurer needs to know that was never written down leaves with you.
An audit committee has to tie every receipt to a register line and every deposit to a statement. On paper that means rebuilding the year by hand, in a fortnight, from a box — which is why so many PTA audits stall or come back qualified.
Don't wait for July
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is today.
What the first month actually looks like
- 1
Week one: accounts and balances
Type in your account names, or start from a standard PTA chart of accounts we provide, and enter each balance as of the day you start. That comes straight off your bank statement. Your binder stays the record of everything before it.
- 2
Week two: the bank, your way
A read-only connection brings transactions in on its own. If you would rather not connect, enter them by hand or upload the file your bank gives you — everything downstream works the same.
- 3
Week three: reconcile, print, done
Check off what cleared against the statement until the difference is zero, then print the treasurer's report for the meeting. That is the month closed, in an evening rather than a weekend.
PTA accounting that runs itself
Built for school groups. Free for 30 days, no credit card required.
Keep looking around
Check Printing
Print one check or a whole run on plain check stock, with alignment you calibrate once. Voids, reprints and check numbers are all tracked for you.
Vendors & W-9s
Vendors complete their own W-9 through a secure link. Tax IDs are encrypted, payment totals add up all year, and January's 1099 list comes off the books you already kept.
Expense Reports
Volunteers submit reimbursements from their phone with no login and no account. Receipts are read automatically, amounts are matched, and every request lands in one queue.
Reconciliation
Match the statement against the ledger with running totals and a difference that has to reach zero. Finished reconciliations lock, so a cleared month cannot quietly change.
Bank Imports
A direct, read-only connection to your bank brings transactions in nightly. Rules and AI categorize them, so your ledger is current between meetings, not after them.
Sign-Off
Your bylaws require two signatures. Sign-Off collects them by email, on a phone, with no login — and writes down who approved what, and when.