We kicked off our Nonprofit Chart of Accounts Grand Tour last week with an overview of cash. While mission is the heart, cash is the lifeblood of a nonprofit organization. All nonprofits must manage cash to survive and thrive. To that end, we offer you the following list of ten pointers on managing cash. 1.…
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This week we pick up our Nonprofit Chart of Accounts Grand Tour talking about cash. Cash is the lifeblood of a nonprofit organization. It’s also the first account on the balance sheet since it’s the most liquid asset. Nonprofit cash has attributes that are very different from the cash of for-profit companies. In this post…
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It’s a new year and a chance to give your nonprofit accounting a fresh start. Right? Not so fast. If your year for accounting purposes is the calendar year (as opposed to a fiscal year ending in a month other than December), your profit and loss report starts out in 2018 with fresh, clean accounts…
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We’ve heard many times from nonprofit executive directors: “My board only understands cash.” Even executive directors themselves often admit to being more comfortable with cash basis than with accrual basis financial statements. And we can’t blame you – all you cash basis fans out there are rightly concerned about, well, cash! Introducing ASU 2016-14 And…
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This post is the fourth and final (but probably not the last) in a series of posts on functional expenses. Actually five posts if you count the introductory post, Demystifying Nonprofit Overhead. Here’s a quick overview of the topics in each post: Demystifying Nonprofit Overhead: Deconstructed the term “overhead;” why you should care about it.…
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This post is the third in a series of four posts on functional expenses. An introductory post, Demystifying Nonprofit Overhead, clarified the term “overhead” and made the case for why you should care about it. In Understanding Functional Expenses – Part 1 of 4, we covered the definition of cost vs. expense and went into…
Read MoreIn our last post, Understanding Functional Expenses – Part 1 of 4, we covered the definition of cost vs. expense. We then dove into the nitty gritty of what expenses are considered to be fundraising. The post just prior to this series, Demystifying Nonprofit Overhead, made the case for why you should care about overhead and…
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In our last post, Demystifying Nonprofit Overhead, we began to tackle the concept of “overhead” and why it’s sooooo important for you to understand it. Overhead refers to expenses that are NOT program expenses. You may find it helpful to read that post if you haven’t already. To quickly review, Form 990, the annual information…
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Overhead. It’s a loaded word in Nonprofit Land. And scary because so many people talk about it with confidence when they clearly have no idea what they are saying. You hate to correct them because you are a little unsure about it yourself. You know overhead is essential. How can you set the record straight?…
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Bank fees can be a sneaky hole in your organization’s pocket, draining hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year if you don’t pay attention. In working with a client recently, we noticed multiple bank fees for monthly service charges and overdrafts. Ouch! How would a donor feel knowing this is where donations were spent?…
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