1. Home
  2. Nonprofit Accounting Software
  3. MIP Fund Accounting Reviews
  4. User Review of MIP Fund Accounting
MIP in the Open
Updated February 23, 2024

MIP in the Open

John Petty | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

15.2

Modules Used

  • HR, PR, GL, EFT, ALL, BUD

Overall Satisfaction with MIP Fund Accounting

MIP Fund Accounting is used by the whole organization for department and overall reporting as well as compliance reporting. It was purchased to allow for reporting by cost allocation to multiple cost centers, including both internal departments and grants. The major benefit is that it allows a large number and multiple levels of cost centers and programs.
  • Cost allocation. Allows great flexibility in the setup of cost pools and receipient centers.
  • Multiple dimension coding structure. Allows complex accounting setups for multi-faceted organizations.
  • Reporting. Allows many different report configurations.
  • Exporting. Ease of exporting reports to PDF and Excel formats.
  • Importing. We now import payroll files from a payroll provider.
  • Bank reconciliation. Exceptionally outdated and inefficient process for clearing checks.
  • Accounts payable. New vendor setup process could be so much easier, especially for vendors who are already employees.
  • Credit card puchases. Badly needs improved functionality in the posting of transactions to actual vendors.
  • The import process needs to be made more intuitive.
  • We believe MIP Fund Accounting is a fairly efficient product.
  • MIP Fund Accounting is slow to innovate and implement enhancement requests.
We no longer use multiple funds although when we did MIP handled reports well.
Too difficult and expensive to change from MIP.
  • Quickbooks
Much superior in terms of cost centers accounting and accruals.

Do you think MIP Fund Accounting delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with MIP Fund Accounting's feature set?

Yes

Did MIP Fund Accounting live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of MIP Fund Accounting go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy MIP Fund Accounting again?

Yes

Do you need a lot of cost centers and coding dimensions? MIP Fund Accounting does this well.

MIP Fund Accounting Feature Ratings

Support from Community Brands

I can't recall that client services played a role, but it's been over twenty years ago. I did however attend a week long comprehensive MIP training in Albuquerque.
i attended a refresher training in Austin a few years ago.
They often follow up to see if the issue is solved.
We have not yet deployed MIP in the cloud. We may do so soon, and appreciate being able to have both options.

Using MIP Fund Accounting

3 - Accounting and people with basic bookkeeping skills. We have one accounts payable clerk, one payroll clerk, one human services coordinator, and one general ledger accountant. The accountant doubles as the technical support person for MIP.
  • AP
  • AR
  • GL
  • Vendor attributes database
  • Importing cash receipts from Excel
  • Importing health insurance costs
  • Credit card accounting
5 - HR, Payroll, AR and AP, GL reporting

Evaluating MIP Fund Accounting and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Reputation
  • Prior Experience with the Product
We needed the multiple dimensions that MIP offered (GL, Program, Dept., Fund).
We would not change.

MIP Fund Accounting Implementation

Important for staff to understand the database as well as the work stations.
  • Implemented in-house
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation - People are resistant to change.
  • Individual learning curves vary.
  • Assignment of access rights.

MIP Fund Accounting Training

  • Online Training
  • In-Person Training
Very good, no complaints. The instructor really knew their stuff. Always enjoyed getting to travel to Austin. Hands on training is very worthwhile, beats trying to pick up stuff from a book or website. They should say more about the role of business partners and how to get in touch with them. A little more training in importing files would be good also.
The online training is not quite as comprehensive as in-person but thorough. It would probably be good to make it on demand and incorporate remote access by the instructor so errors could be corrected and guided exercises provided. Abila needs to offer exposure to how to manipulate the SQL database and generate queries, possibly how to do mass updating of vendor files, etc.

Configuring MIP Fund Accounting

Too limited so far as I understand.
Improve importing of files and credit card accounting, fix open sessions problem.
No - the product does not support adding custom code
Yes - we have customized the interface extensively - To suit individual preferences. Yes, it was easy.
We have been successful with imports of .csv files for bank deposits and certain payments.

MIP Fund Accounting Support

ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
Difficult to get immediate help
No
Not needed.
Yes - Most of the time.
They usually solve the problem and they seem to care.

Using MIP Fund Accounting

  • COST ALLOCATION
  • BANK RECONCILIATION
  • IMPORT
  • CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTING
  • VENDOR ACTIVITY REPORTS
Yes, but I don't use it
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
None
A reliable product but not much innovation. Some needs like a comprehensive credit card accounting system are simply left unaddressed. Also, there is room for improvement importing files.

MIP Fund Accounting Reliability

There appears to be a great deal of flexibility in the product.
The on-site version has been very reliable. The only weakness is in the way automatic backups can fill up a drive over time.

Integrating MIP Fund Accounting

Kind of a struggle to find the consulting expertise needed.
  • Paylocity
We now import payroll files. Not too difficult but could be more automated.
  • No.
  • File import/export
Be sure you know somebody who knows how.

Relationship with Community Brands

I can't remember any problems.
Aside from tech support, it is a bit difficult to resolve business issues.
We merely paid the listed price.
Be sure to get the name of a contact.

Upgrading MIP Fund Accounting

Yes - For a while there was a problem with the new release version recording the correct version number. Also, the way HR module upgrades are distributed could be improved.
  • I couldn't determine what they were.
  • Credit card accounting
  • Improved importing
  • Remedying open sessions problem