17 years helping Australian businesses
choose better software

ShelbyNext Financials Reviews

About ShelbyNext Financials

ShelbyNext | Financials provides cloud-based accounting software specifically designed for the unique needs of the Church.

Learn more about ShelbyNext Financials

Pros:

It is relatively easy to pick up and learn all the tasks you would need to know. Having the PO Management system has been one of the most cost beneficial additions to our organization.

Cons:

Budget projections are not available. Tracking can be difficult.

ShelbyNext Financials ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
3.8
Customer Service
4.0
Features
3.8
Value for Money
4.0

Likelihood to recommend

7.4/10

ShelbyNext Financials has an overall rating of 4.0 out 5 stars based on 165 user reviews on Capterra.

Have you used ShelbyNext Financials before?

Share your experiences with other software buyers.

Filter reviews (165)

Robyn
Robyn
Communications Coordinator in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Fairly easy to use but sometimes have problems with the search option

4.0 7 years ago

Comments: First and foremost, it allows me to provide good customer service to the ministers and churches that need information. This new version of Shelby requires fewer keystrokes to obtain data.

Pros:

Generating mailing lists is much easier than the old version of Shelby. Only have to make a couple of keystrokes to get updated sorts.

Cons:

Difficult to search for churches - have to know the actual church name, which requires looking it up with a hard copy directory.

Monica
Accounting Supervisor in US
Accounting, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Shelby Next Financials

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: We are able to process our normal transactions in a timely manner.

Pros:

It allows us to process transactions (payroll/ap/general ledger) for our multi-campus church in a fairly simple manner.

Cons:

1) I am not aware of any "ticket/notification" process to notify Shelby of a need we have/special report request. There are a couple of routine processes that we do not get good reports from Shelby. 2) The change from Shelby V5 to Shelby Next resulted in a general ledger report filter process that is more difficult.

Cynthia
Accountant/Consultant in US
Religious Institutions, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

I'm sorry, I do not like this software!

3.0 last year

Pros:

Nothing, too many other options that are far easier to use and more intuitive.

Cons:

I have already stated my specific areas of concern.

Louie
Coordinator in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Excellent Church Accounting Program

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: We do bookkeeping for 75+ churches in Illinois and it adapts for our smallest churches to our very largest ones. Good payroll management is always a challenge for churches. The ShelbyNext Financials payroll module does a very complete job of handling all the aspects of payroll and payroll reporting.

Pros:

Very easy to learn to use the software. Focused for the unique needs of a church.

Cons:

More flexibility in designing reports. This would include text edits, data selection, and formatting.

Jennifer
Finance Manager in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Very happy with this product!

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Overall I have been very pleased with ShelbyNext Financials. It was easy to use and figure out if you have experience with other accounting software. When you get through to Customer Service they are very helpful and have always been able to help me resolve my issues.

Pros:

- cloud based so can access from anywhere - user friendly - can do most anything I need

Cons:

- sometimes glitchy - customer service isn't always easily accessible - doesn't communicate with ShelbyNext Membership

Blane
Minister of Administration in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Next Financials Pros/cons

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: The support is top notch and Shelby is constantly adding features and updating the software. We are large non-profit organization and I see no issue with the software handling our needs going forward.

Pros:

Easy to use. Common menus in every module. Customizable dashboard. Add on modules available.

Cons:

Some specialty features would be nice, but feature request are constantly being added.

Laura
Administrative Assistant in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Shelby Make It Easy for us

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: The financials for Shelby is a plus for us. I like that you can create categories for everything.

Pros:

Very helpful with custom lists and financial statements. Easy access and easy to learn and understand quickly.

Cons:

They is nothing that I don't like about Shelby. I've been using the software since it came out. Very happy with it. Just hope we can upgrade to ShelbyNext soon. Currently we are still using Shelby V5 version.

Kacy
Assistant Pastor in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Helpful Program

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Once you understand how it works, and get it all set up, it is very effective.

Pros:

The Purchasing Management portion of this module makes requesting purchases and the approval a breeze.

Cons:

We were trained on how to use it in 3 days. We needed more time but couldn't afford more training time. It was quite a battle getting everything going and understanding how to use it.

Amy
Accounting Manager in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Overall good product

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Honestly, we switched so that we would have cloud based software. It's nice to be able to do my work anywhere.

Pros:

This software is easier to use than Shelby v5. I like the way in interfaces with ShelbyNext Membership.

Cons:

The reporting function still has a pretty steep learning curve.

Vevette
Office Manager/Bookkeeper in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Thankful for ShelbyNext Financials!

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: ShelbyNext Financials is clean, once learned, easy to understand & navigate, and it communicates across other Shelby products.

Pros:

What I like most about Shelby Financial is the communication between the other Shelby platforms, once I learned the program's logic I like it more than our previous accounting software, and the Outstanding customer service.

Cons:

Some of the report formatting is not my preference.

Martha
Financial Administrator in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

A solid package that meets the needs, though it has it's limitations.

3.0 5 years ago

Pros:

The training and help line have been extremely responsive and that's my favorite part of working with Shelby; I know the help will be there when I need it! The system is in the cloud, so I can access it anywhere I am. I like the fact that I can drill down into financial statements to research numbers.

Cons:

The accounts receivable segment is extremely cumbersome and limited. Doesn't speak to ShelbyNext Membership OR User setup, so you have input every customer 3 times. Customers can't set up scheduled payments (and I've taken a lot of heat for that!). No mass edit/invoice feature so you can't bill all customers or correct a large group of invoices for the same thing without entering every record. Can't email invoices! No good way to track memorial contributions so that you can send acknowledgements. Generally, inputting requires A LOT of clicking, because the system doesn't search for account by name (we call it the Shelby Shuffle!). Chart of accounts process is very convoluted.

Aleeya
Admin Assistant in US
Religious Institutions, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

JFBC ShelbyNext Review

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: I am pleased with ShelbyNext. I didn't do much with financials when we were using the older version of Shelby but now I use Next every day.

Pros:

The design of the software is easy to follow and easy to read. Much better than our older version of Shelby which has small windows and was not very intuitive. ShelbyNext can be confusing at times but with experience and training, I have become more confident using it. I am also helping train others to use the software.

Cons:

When entering items to make another line you click the + sign but you can also hit enter at the + sign to make another line. Sometimes, if I hit enter instead of clicking on the + with a mouse, it completes the transaction and closes out the window. Also, after entering so many lines a second or third page is created but the window doesn't automatically shift to the new page. Seems like that would be automatic if you were at the end of one page if you clicked for another line it should go to that new line on the second page.

Mary
Accounting Clerk in US
Religious Institutions, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Online financial software

4.0 5 years ago

Pros:

I like the ease with which I can import from Arena to Shelby Next Financials. After I got used to it I found it easy to navigate through the applications. I only use the General Ledger to import contributions from Arena and Bank account management to enter non contribution income. The other two users in our organization seem to have easily adapted from Shelby V.5 with no major problems.

Cons:

I find the process of importing much slower than before. I liked how all the applications worked together in v.5 - all using the same names and being able to use membership and vendors separately but not having to import data from one to the other. So this part is hard for me. We also were able to use reporting to get information more easily in Shelby V.5 For instance I was able to put a profile on certain vendors and run a report to send them Christmas cards. Now I have to use Excel and manually keep track of them.

Patty
Accounting Assistant in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

It's OK

3.0 5 years ago

Comments: Like the title says - it's just ok. It seems they have not been able to keep up with the ability of user friendly options.

Pros:

ShelbyNext Financials is somewhat easy to navigate once you learn the system.

Cons:

There are certain tasks that would be so easy to incorporate that would make the financial software a lot more user friendly but for some reason are not available. For example; it would be so beneficial if the invoice inquires could be sorted right on the tabs or at least be sorted by date entered. It's frustrating looking for an invoice that was created in December because it lines up somewhere other than after November and there is not a sort option. There are actually many issues like this across the Shelby platform.

Mahala
Office manager in US
Education Management, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Not user friendly

3.0 6 years ago

Comments: Overall, I would not recommend this system to anything other than a church. As a religous, non-profit educational facility, it doesn't really meet our needs.

Pros:

The optional reports you can print are great, as well as, the way the system is set up to double check your input before you finalize in the ledger.

Cons:

It's not very user friendly. I have used it for at least 5 years, and there are still areas that I'm not sure about. Also, the reports don't always show what they are suppose to show.

Ministry Brands Response

6 years ago

We appreciate your feedback. We can't fulfill the needs of our customers without user feedback. We have continued to grow the system to meet the needs of thousands of customers needs over 40+ years. We if you haven't done so, please utilize our superior customer support team at Shelby. We are here to help.

Robin
Financial Director in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Software is great, implementation was horrible, customer support not good

4.0 7 years ago

Comments: Once trained very easy to use and intuitive.

Pros:

It is superior accounting software (and I have used many over the years). I like the basic logic to this software and because of this basic logic the ability to run many different reports many different ways. I absolutely love the bank reconciliation reports and the general ledger and the way you can fashion reports based on your need. I like that you can adjust the income statement with custom columns.

Cons:

I don't like it when I am doing a journal entry and the first line never accepts the account number and the only way to get it to "recognize" it is to search for it. Annoying. I don't like that all of a sudden something will look entirely different from the last time you performed that same function. When you call customer support and you are in critical need the recording tells you they can not answer at this time and to call back. Not acceptable for a support based software that we pay so much for.

Pam
Financial Secretary in US
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Software has been great and fairly easy to maneuver. The Customer support has been very poor.

4.0 7 years ago

Pros:

Software has helped with online contribution and has definitely increased our giving. It is very easy to maneuver. Much like V5 was for us. As a whole we have been pleased with the software other than not having much luck with customer service. We did get a call back today and the person was helpful. We hope this continues in the future

Cons:

On V5 we were able to make more changes ourselves without calling customer support. We have not had much luck with setting up purposes and because of this funds have mistakenly been put in the wrong bank accounts when we have requested changes to be made and even though it shouldn't have affected things like text to give it did. We feel like even though these mistakes have been corrected it should have never happened. We are paying a lot of money for this software to work effectively and at times that has not been the case.

Karen
Finance Director in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

ShelbyNext | Financials Review

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Over all it has been positive. It solved quite a few problems when we changed over.

Pros:

I was able to delete old accounts, etc from the old software making it more organized. There seem to be some additional features that makes things easier. I like being able to let technical support know the challenges I am having they are working to fix. We like all the giving options but I think the cost is too high.

Cons:

Its hard to remember to change checking accounts. Not in a very good location. There seems to be a lot of things that need tweaking. I don't like the fact in the reports module that I can not print reports that include more than one year. There isn't enough flexibility there.

Karen
Database Administrator/Finance in US
Religious Institutions, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

ShelbyNext exceeds expectations

5.0 5 years ago

Pros:

ShelbyNext makes it easy to create or update accounts payable vendors, enter and pay invoices direct to vendors or enter credit card transactions for multiple card holders. We have 50+ card holders so it makes it easy to sort transactions by cardholder, date, vendor, account, etc. We also have multiple bank accounts and it is easy to choose which account to enter transactions into.

Cons:

There really aren't any negatives that I have found working with this software. It meets all my expectations of what I need it to do, from entering transactions to creating reports. I just had to get used to reports looking different, but definitely a more clean updated look.

Carol
Comptroller in US
Accounting, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Improvement is Needed

3.0 5 years ago

Pros:

Ease of use. Easy access. Support is very good.

Cons:

It’s behind other software packages in its ability to be more versatile....uploading automatically electronic documents, bank statements, etc. Software is behind many other versions out there which has been a great disappointment.

Shelby
Financial Administrator in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Intuitive Product

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: I have really enjoyed this product and I would recommend it to someone who works for a smaller company!

Pros:

When I started at ECO they were using V.5 but had just made the switch to ShelbyNext. Since we didn't have anyone on staff who knew how it worked I was left to teach myself. Using the system was easy and I rarely had issues. The layout of the interface makes sense.

Cons:

The software itself does everything we need it to as a denomination. We use all functions expect the payroll piece because we outsource that. When calling customer service there is usually a wait time which is sometimes frustrating.

Jennifer
Accounting Director in US
Religious Institutions, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Great product - not perfect, but the tech team is always making improvements

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Good

Pros:

The online access is a must, so long as you have fast reliable connectivity, you will enjoy using this program.

Cons:

Not all of the applications function the same. I have had to come up with some work arounds to accomplish my accounting duties efficiently.

Angela
Music/Media Team Coordinator in US
Religious Institutions, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Not the best...

3.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Generating reports and financial statements

Cons:

We used to use this software and after several years, we changed programs and now use something else which works so much better with our church database (Church Community Builder) and is much more user friendly.

Dale
Director of Financial Operations in US
Religious Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

After 1 yr of working on it, it is now familiar; but there are features that I still need to learn.

4.0 7 years ago

Comments: Being web-based is probably the biggest benefit. And I would say that the learning curve from V5 to Next was fairly easy. I just need to clear my time to learn about things we haven't utilized yet, like uploading payroll ACH and emailing payroll vouchers to employees. I'm attending the Shelby International Conference in June, so I am hopeful that will offer me more opportunity to learn about those items & then some.

Pros:

I like that it is web-based & I can access it easily on other devices besides my work computer when necessary.

Cons:

I don't like the timing-out feature that logs me off after a certain amount of time. It is too short & wastes much of my time having to log in over & over. I get this is a security feature, but we should have control enough to make it longer when we need to.

Amanda
Asst CFO in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Very helpful software

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Over all experience is very good. Great support, our area representative, is awesome!!

Pros:

I like that the software handles many of the accounting tasks necessary for our church and academy.

Cons:

The ease of customizing the reports could be improved. Also, it would be very helpful if the system allowed for identifying sales tax paid on purchases more easily. The system allows for splitting the payment between item price and sales tax but no reporting feature is available that will show what tax has been entered.