Nonprofit Balance Sheet Framework

By CarolCarrie / October 7, 2019 /
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  If you are struggling to understand a nonprofit balance sheet and other financial statements, then this post is for you! And it’s especially for you if you are not a “numbers person.” Chances are you’ve looked at your organization’s profit and loss report and never thought much about the balance sheet. If that’s the…

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Bad Debt

By CarolCarrie / September 23, 2019 /
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In our last two ports of call on our Chart of Accounts Grand Tour, we visited Accounts and Pledges Receivable and also looked at Accounts Receivable Aging and Due Dates. Today we visit a related topic, bad debt, and take a look at the bad debts entry you need to make in your books. We find…

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Capitalize or Expense Building Improvements?

By CarolCarrie / May 6, 2019 /
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Recently a client came to us with a question about whether she should capitalize or expense a new interior door that replaced an old door within their building. The new door was heavy duty, fire resistant, and contained a window to facilitate monitoring of vulnerable clients. It was much more expensive than the standard door…

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Summary Sales Receipt to Record Nonprofit Income

By CarolCarrie / February 4, 2019 /
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Summary sales receipts have long been a “go to” accounting trick for restaurants and retail stores. By using a summary sales receipt, a business can easily enter a summary of the day’s sales and methods of payment into the accounting system. But did you know this technique can also be used by nonprofits? How a…

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Getting Income from Customer Management Software into QuickBooks

By CarolCarrie / January 28, 2019 /
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Organizations use various types software to help manage customers and the revenue process. But that software is often disconnected from the accounting system. Customer and revenue software programs fall into three major categories: Industry-specific customer relationship management (CRM) software. Examples include: ProCare – for child care centers VETbuddy – for veterinarian clinics TherapyNotes – for…

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Transfers Between Bank Accounts

By CarolCarrie / January 21, 2019 /
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Transfers between bank accounts often trip people up in QuickBooks.  Here are some of the errors we see: Coding a transfer out of a bank account as an expense and coding the deposit into the receiving bank account as income. Duplicate entry of the transfer – by posting the transfer separately in each of the…

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Nonprofit Chart of Accounts Grand Tour Wrap Up

By CarolCarrie / December 17, 2018 /
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Over the course of this year we have taken you along on a Chart of Accounts Grand Tour (with a few detours here and there!) We hope you have enjoyed it. As we wrap up 2018, we want to leave you with a “map” of the accounts we visited. We provided a table of blog…

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Closing the Books with Less Stress

By CarolCarrie / December 10, 2018 /
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For many organizations, December is the last month of the fiscal year.  That means wrapping up not only books for December, but for the entire year!  Even if you are not a December year-end, read on for tips to make closing the books faster and less stressful. Follow Up on Outstanding Checks and Deposits in…

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Nonprofit Expenses

By CarolCarrie / November 5, 2018 /
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Our Chart of Accounts Grand Tour now winds its way into nonprofit expenses. Nonprofit expenses are in many ways similar to those of a regular for-profit company. Payroll, office supplies, rent, and other expenses are commonly found in nonprofit organizations. This post will give an overview of the nonprofit expense landscape, starting with… Distinguishing Expense…

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Nonprofit Income Accounts: Special Events Part II

By CarolCarrie / October 29, 2018 /
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Last week we laid out a simple accounting framework for special events: Special Events (parent account, not for data entry) – Special Event Income (sub account of Special Events) – Special Event Direct Costs (sub account of Special Events) The above framework accounts for all special event income in the Special Event Income account and…

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