9 Best Practices for Strong Nonprofit Financial Management

accounting services for nonprofit organizations

Their expertise in this area can significantly impact the financial health of your organization. Learn how to build customized reports that give you complete control over the analysis you can get from your system. Whether that’s Insight Designer in Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT or plugging into PowerBI, understanding how to build these in-depth reports can elevate the information you get and the decisions you can make.

Our Mission

An accountant with strong ethics will handle finances responsibly and provide honest, accurate financial reports. Jitasa’s nonprofit bookkeeping services focus on data entry and allocation of both revenue and expenses. Our professional process will set your organization up for success in all of your financial management and accounting activities. Link your financial data to your non-financial data, such as fund accounting software that has a performance management feature or an outcome measurement tool. You can use a system that lets you connect your income and expenses to your objectives, indicators, and outcomes so you can clearly show your impact and return on investment. The final option is the fund accounting method, a type of accrual accounting method specifically used for nonprofit accounting.

Data Visualizations to Guide Your Decision-Making

For instance, donations would be in a separate income ‘fund’ than government grants when using the fund accounting method. When beginning nonprofit accounting, the first decision is whether to use the cash, accrual, or fund accrual accounting method for recording income and expenses. For-profit businesses generally have the goal of maximizing revenue, keeping overhead costs low, minimizing tax liability, and generating as much net profit as possible for shareholders and owners. For-profit accounting also considers other revenues and expenses, such as dividends or labor costs.

  • And if you own a larger nonprofit with multiple ongoing projects, Aplos’s customized solutions start at $189 a month.
  • Zoho Checkout is free as long as you accept only 50 donations—ever, not per month.
  • Hiring the right nonprofit accountant is a critical decision that can significantly impact your organization’s financial health and overall success.
  • With the multidisciplinary care and specialty knowledge of these centers, they require some complex finances and time-intensive reporting tasks that take time away from impactful patient care.
  • At AccountingX, we are committed to helping you attain financial success for your nonprofit.

Our Core Accounting Services for Nonprofits

accounting services for nonprofit organizations

As a nonprofit organization, you have a duty to your funding partners and your community to use your revenue to drive your mission. You can’t provide that transparency if all your funds are lumped together in one account. You need to track your revenue by fund, so you can see how each dollar is spent and how it contributes to your outcomes. When you outsource your finances to us, you’ll have access to professionals who are not only experts in finance, but also understand the intricacies of the nonprofit world. The right nonprofit accounting experts ensure your knowledge of and compliance with nonprofit tax and accounting regulations is up to par, preventing costly mistakes from ever happening.

Statement of Financial Position

accounting services for nonprofit organizations

Nonprofit organizations are subject to a range of regulations, including IRS Form 990 filings, state charitable solicitation registrations, and grant reporting requirements. A skilled nonprofit accountant should have in-depth knowledge of these regulations and a proven ability to ensure compliance. This expertise helps avoid costly penalties and keeps the organization in good standing with regulatory bodies. When your organization has strong https://www.bookstime.com/ financial management processes, you will have a clear understanding of how your money is spent and how your expenses align with your mission and strategy. You’ll be able to follow consistent and transparent processes for managing your income and your expenses and leverage technology to automate, streamline, and improve your financial workflows and data quality. Your nonprofit’s statement of activities is also known as your income statement.

Don’t overthink overhead expenses.

Many small to midsize organizations struggle to find someone to fill this role. Actually, 18% of nonprofits listed limited staff as their greatest challenge in 2019. This means that finding someone to take on these responsibilities (especially as you grow) can be immensely challenging.

Track Your Revenue by Fund

accounting services for nonprofit organizations

Every interaction with them has improved us, from guiding us through successful accounting practices to ensuring that we have robust Human Resource offerings. We’re incredibly grateful to the Mission Edge team for everything they’ve done for us. If you’re interested in text-to-donate capabilities, you can upgrade to Aplos Core at $139 a month. And if you own a larger nonprofit accounting services for nonprofit organizations with multiple ongoing projects, Aplos’s customized solutions start at $189 a month. Still, Zoho Books offers 15% off its starting price for registered nonprofits, which helps lighten some of the fiscal load. When your in-house accountant changes report formats as often as you change your socks, it can leave you confused, or stuck defending numbers you don’t really understand.

  • Each type of funding may have different restrictions, reporting requirements, and expectations from your funders.
  • Modern technology and clear rules are key to strong nonprofit financial management.
  • Whenever new tax laws pass, the rules outlining how nonprofits must handle and report income change.
  • Your nonprofit’s statement of activities is also known as your income statement.

Use the best accounting software for nonprofits.

Grant & Fund Accounting