Getting Started with MonkeyPod for Bookkeepers

Are you a bookkeeper who's starting who's just getting started with MonkeyPod? This article will give you all the information you need to ensure your next fiscal year is just as successful on this new platform.

General Overview of MonkeyPod

MonkeyPod is a fully integrated CRM, Accounting, Email Outreach, Fundraising, and Budgeting system for nonprofits. It is built by nonprofit people for nonprofit people. Want an intro to the software in general? Check out our Welcome to MonkeyPod YouTube Playlist.

In general, as a bookkeeper for an organization who is using MonkeyPod, most of what you need is either in the Finance, Relationships, or Reports menu items.

Finance Menu

The finance menu is broken up into four general groups:

Revenue and Expenses: This is where you record and create transactions for an organization

A screenshot showing where to enter Revenue and Expenses in MonkeyPod

Other: This area features different transaction types, online banking matching, and searching transactions

A screenshot showing the

Budgets: This is where you can create budgets as well as budget roll-ups for an organization

Screenshot showing the budgets area of the menu

Accounting Settings: Helping an organization get started on MonkeyPod? Check out the Accounting settings area to know what needs to be done!

Screenshot showing settings for accounting

Setting up MonkeyPod - Learning about Accounts, Classes, and Tags

The accounting system in MonkeyPod is rooted in the concept of Accounts, Classes, and Tags.

To explain the concepts more clearly, we're going to use an example of a Graphic Design expense for an Annual Gala Fundraiser.

Accounts

Accounts in MonkeyPod are listed in the Chart of Accounts. You are doubtless already familiar with this concept. If you need a refresher, check out our article on the Chart of Accounts.

For our example, an expense for a Graphic Designer would come from account 8403: Graphic Design as shown below in our Chart of Accounts.

Screenshot showing account

In general an Account describes what the expense was, but doesn't give detail as to why we spent that money.

Classes 

Classes in MonkeyPod are likely a new way of classifying transactions. They are functional categories;  they give the why for the expense. MonkeyPod comes with four initial Classes.

  1. Management and General
  2. Programs and Services
  3. Fundraising
  4. Shared Expenses

In our example you can see that an expense is coming from the Graphic Design account and from here we can select the Fundraising class because it was for a fundraiser.

Screenshot showing fundraising class selection window

Want to know how we got to this screen? To get to tracking expenses, go to Finance then Write a Check. Check out this YouTube playlist to learn more!

Where do we set up our classes?

You can set up your classes under My MonkeyPod then MonkeyPod Setup and Classes/Programs.

Screenshot showing where to set up classes

You can also make subclasses, so if there are programs/services/fundraisers that you hold every year, you may want to make them an official class!

Tags

Tags are for management accounting purposes. They don't impact official financial statements, they're not connected to GAAP rules, and they are entirely optional. Tags can be extremely useful, though! MonkeyPod users use tags to track income and expenses related to events, fundraising campaigns, projects, chapter offices, and much more. 

Some bookkeepers even create a tag called "To Review". They'll use this tag to flag transactions that need management attention for proper categorization or other reasons. Once the review is complete, the tag can easily be removed.

Screenshot of expense highlighting where to enter a tag

For our graphic design example, we have tagged the transaction with "2024 Conference." This means we will now be able to see this transaction from three levels: the Graphic Design account level, the Fundraising class level, and the 2024 Conference tag level.

Creating a Demo Organization

If you are interested in seeing MonkeyPod in action before you commit to a Chart of Accounts/Classes/Tag schema, you may want to launch a demo organization in MonkeyPod. Several of the bookkeepers we've worked with find this an easy way to see the system in action.

Financial Reports

MonkeyPod supports the big three non-profit financial reports: 

  • Statement of Activities
  • Statement of Financial Position
  • Statement of Functional Expenses

These can all be run with a single click but can also be filtered and customized as needed. You can even save your customizations and come back to it later. All reports can be found under Reports and Accounting & Finance.

Under the same menu, you'll find more accountant-oriented reports like the Trial Balance, General Ledger, and so many more!

Online Banking Integration

MonkeyPod allows you to connect your bank accounts and credit card accounts through online banking. Once connected, MonkeyPod downloads new transactions.

Transactions downloaded from online banking are not automatically recorded in MonkeyPod. Instead, you'll have the option to:

  • Match them to transactions you've already recorded (this will make reconciliations easier and faster)
  • Add them "on the fly" based on the information received from the bank
  • Ignore them altogether

Many users do most of their bookkeeping through the online banking interface. While this is certainly possible, in general we think it's a bad habit to get into. Recording transactions directly through the normal interface allows for more detailed information and context to be captured, which is useful in myriad ways. It's a little bit slower, but you'll end up with better, richer data over time. 

Want more amazing video content? Check out our YouTube channel!