In Shepherd's Staff, accounts are arranged in a hierarchical structure, and at the top of that hierarchy in previous versions of Shepherd's Staff was the term "Funds". In version 9.0 onward in Shepherd's Staff, we now, by default refer to this top level of account structure as "Books". Some consider these terms to have similar meanings, but there are differences. If you prefer one term over the other, you may change the term in Tools/Settings.
Books
A book is a term used to represent a church's general ledger or accounting records. This also has the advantage of being a distinct term from funds in the Contributions module of Shepherd's Staff.
Funds
A fund is a self-balancing set of accounts with assets, liabilities and a fund balance. Funds show ownership of cash, a fund balance and are distinguished by their source of revenue.
To change the term used for your set of account for the top level of your account structure within Shepherd's Staff. Follow the steps below. You must have Supervisor-level rights to the Finance module to make this change.
- In the Finance module, click on the "Tools/Settings" tab.
- Check the checkbox for "Settings".
- In the "Term to use for a set of accounts" field, select if you want to use either "Book" or "Fund".
- Click the "Save" button in the "Settings" box.
- Close all the way out of Shepherd's Staff, and when you reopen Shepherd's Staff, you'll now be using the term you selected.