FlowBooks for NGOs

    Accounting for trusts, societies and Section 8 companies, with the funds, donors and forms your auditor asks for

    FlowBooks keeps an NGO's books by fund and by project, so the Income & Expenditure account, the Receipts and Payments account and every fund schedule come from the same vouchers. Donations get numbered receipts, the year's Form 113 file is built from them, and the 85% application and FCRA checks run as you post. Each trust or society keeps its own books, with a combined view of the group.

    • Income & Expenditure, Receipts & Payments and fund schedules
    • Donation receipts, Form 113 CSV and Form 114 certificates
    • 85% application tracker, rule 187 registers and FCRA pack
    • Included in FlowBooks One; your auditor's seat is free

    What NGO accounting covers

    Switched on per legal entity, with defaults from its constitution. Turn on 80G / section 354 approval, section 332 registration, FCRA and CSR-1 as they apply to each entity.

    Fund accounting with Income & Expenditure

    Switch NGO accounting on for each trust, society or Section 8 company. The NGO chart keeps general, restricted, corpus and capital funds, and the statements come from the same vouchers: an Income & Expenditure account with columns by fund type, a balance sheet with fund balances, the Receipts and Payments account and fund schedules. Section 8 companies keep Schedule III statements.

    • Restricted grants released to income as they are spent
    • Capital grants released with depreciation, and a capital asset fund
    • Year-end fund journals previewed before they post
    • Opening balances split by fund and project

    Donors and donation receipts

    A donor register with the identity codes the donation statement asks for, and a numbered receipt for every donation, printed or emailed with your 80G / section 354 approval number.

    • Corpus donations with the donor's written direction attached
    • Gifts in kind, anonymous, joint and foreign donations
    • Cash above the limit and gifts in kind marked as not deductible for the donor
    • Pre-ARN list from the portal used on receipts written by hand

    Form 113 and Form 114

    Books builds the year's Form 113 donation statement (Form 10BD under the 1961 Act) as the portal's CSV, with rows per donor, donation type and mode, and checks it before you download it. After you file it, upload the Form 114 certificates (formerly 10BE) the portal gives you: Books matches each PDF to its donor and emails it.

    • Joint donations split between donors
    • Revised and deleted rows for corrections
    • Late-fee warning after the due date
    • Filing status kept per year

    85% application tracker and rule 187 registers

    A live view of regular income, the 85% target, what has been applied, deemed application, accumulation and the shortfall. Payments are tagged as application in India, outside India, to another registered NPO, from corpus or from loans.

    • Accumulation (Form 109) and deemed application (Form 108) with apply-by dates
    • Rule 187 registers in one workbook: projects, income, application, corpus, loans, properties, investments
    • Related persons, with a note on why a payment gives no benefit
    • Specified income at 30%: anonymous donations above the limit, investments outside the permitted modes

    FCRA

    Foreign contributions can only be received into the FC bank accounts you set, interest on them counts as foreign contribution, and spending from them is tracked against the 20% administrative cap, with teachers' and doctors' salaries excluded.

    • FCRA checks listed for review
    • FC-4 tables ready to enter on the FCRA portal
    • A separate FC statement
    • Registration and renewal dates in the compliance calendar

    For your auditor

    Form 112 working papers (the audit report that replaced Form 10B and 10BB) in the order of the form, from the same books. Your auditor gets a free accountant seat and uploads Form 112 from their own login.

    • Edit log on every posted voucher
    • Locked periods
    • Excel and PDF reports
    • s.332 and s.354 renewal reminders six months ahead

    Budgets, utilisation and salaries

    Budgets per fund or project on ledgers or groups, budget against actual, and a utilisation certificate for a donor or a CSR company. Salaries are split across grants and projects per employee.

    • Budget vs actual by fund and project
    • Utilisation certificates, including CSR
    • Salary split posted as an allocation journal from your pay register
    • Fees, rent and sponsorship tagged for GST

    Several trusts or societies

    A society and its school trusts, or a trust and its Section 8 company, each keep their own books, series, statements and filings in one workspace. A combined view adds them up and takes out the grants and balances between them.

    • Books per legal entity
    • Combined group view
    • Users limited to their entities
    • Included in every plan

    Built on core FlowBooks features every company gets

    These are part of FlowBooks for every company, not only NGOs. The NGO pack adds the trust-specific statements, registers and forms on top.

    Named voucher series

    Keep several numbered series for one voucher type, such as a cash series per office or a series per grant. Each restarts every financial year without gaps.

    • Default bank or cash account and project per series
    • Choose who may post to a series
    • Day book, cash book and bank book filtered by series

    Projects and funds

    Tag every voucher line with a project (split into activities or locations) and a fund. Funds work on balance sheet lines too, so each grant or earmarked amount shows its own balance.

    • Project report with opening, movement and closing
    • Fund statement: opening, received, spent, transfers, closing
    • Project by fund matrix
    • Ledgers that require a project or a fund

    Receipts and Payments account

    A Receipts and Payments account from your cash and bank ledgers, grouped by head, with opening and closing cash and bank, for any company or entity.

    • Works for every legal entity
    • Same vouchers as the P&L or I&E
    • Excel and PDF

    Returns from the same books

    The aim is one software instead of an accounting tool plus a separate tax tool. FlowBooks prepares GST returns and TDS statements from the same entries today, and ITR-7 is available as a preview, checked against the department's official schema. You or your CA upload every return.

    See what FlowBooks prepares and what is coming

    Frequently asked questions

    Is FlowBooks suitable for a charitable trust, society or Section 8 company?

    Yes. NGO accounting is switched on per legal entity, with defaults from its constitution: trusts and societies get the NGO chart, Income & Expenditure and fund statements, and Section 8 companies keep Schedule III statements with funds and donors added. Settings such as 80G / section 354 approval, section 332 registration, FCRA and CSR-1 are turned on as they apply.

    Does FlowBooks produce Income & Expenditure and Receipts & Payments accounts?

    Yes. The Income & Expenditure account, the balance sheet with fund balances, the Receipts and Payments account and the fund schedules all come from the same vouchers, so they agree with each other. The Receipts and Payments account is available to every company, not only NGOs.

    Can FlowBooks prepare Form 113 (Form 10BD) and send Form 114 (Form 10BE) certificates?

    It builds the Form 113 donation statement as the portal's CSV from your donations and checks it before download; you upload it on the income-tax e-filing portal. Then you upload the Form 114 PDFs the portal issues, and FlowBooks matches each one to its donor and emails it.

    Does it track the 85% application rule?

    Yes. A tracker shows regular income, the 85% target, amounts applied, deemed application, accumulation and any shortfall as you post, with rule 187 registers kept from the same entries. Your auditor confirms the final figures.

    Does FlowBooks help with FCRA compliance?

    It keeps foreign contributions in the FC bank accounts you name, tracks the 20% administrative cap, lists FCRA checks for review, prepares the FC-4 tables and a separate FC statement. You or your auditor enter FC-4 on the FCRA portal; FlowBooks does not file there.

    Can our auditor work in FlowBooks?

    Yes. Invite them with the accountant role; their seat is free. They see the live books, the edit log and the Form 112 working papers, and upload Form 112 from their own login.

    Can FlowBooks prepare ITR-7?

    It prepares ITR-7 from the books and NGO registers as a preview and checks it against the department's official JSON schema, with each problem linked to the voucher, ledger or answer that causes it. The upload-ready file is coming soon. You or your CA upload the return; FlowBooks does not file income-tax returns for you.

    Is FlowBooks approved by ICAI, or does it guarantee compliance?

    No. FlowBooks prepares statements, registers and files from your entries; you and your auditor review them and remain responsible for what is filed. Tax rules, rates and due dates are kept as dated settings, so they can be checked and updated each year.

    What does NGO accounting cost?

    It is included in FlowBooks One at no extra cost: one price per company with 3 users included, your accountant's seat free, and several legal entities included. FlowBooks also has a free tier.

    See your funds, donors and statements in one place

    A 30-minute demo with a sample society and its school trusts: donations to Form 113, the 85% tracker and the combined view. Also see several legal entities in one workspace.