There’s a question most nonprofit leaders don’t think to ask: is our payroll actually set up correctly? The assumption is usually yes. People are paid on time, taxes are filed, and nothing has flagged as a problem. That feels like a pass. And for the most part, it is. But payroll running smoothly and payroll […]

Accounting method is one of those decisions that often gets made early in a nonprofit’s life, sometimes without much thought, and then quietly shapes everything that comes after. The choice between cash and accrual accounting affects your financial statements, your grant reporting, your audit readiness, and what your board understands about the organization’s financial position. […]

If you’ve ever sat down with your nonprofit’s financials and wondered why the numbers don’t quite tell the story you expected, there’s a good chance it comes down to one thing: how your organization records money. Cash vs accrual accounting is one of the first decisions any nonprofit has to make about its bookkeeping. It […]

If you lead a not-for-profit organization, you already know that financial accountability is not optional. But knowing which accounting rules apply to your organization, and why they exist, is something many leaders are still figuring out. The terminology alone can be confusing. GAAP, FASB, ASC 958, functional expenses, net asset classes. Where do you even […]

Running a nonprofit comes with a lot of financial responsibility, and most of it traces back to one foundational question: are you following the right accounting standards? Nonprofit accounting standards exist to make sure your financial records are accurate, transparent, and trustworthy. Donors want to see how their money is being used. Grant-makers need to […]

The deadline isn’t your biggest problem. Your year-round habits are. Every spring, nonprofit leaders go through the same painful ritual. Emails fly. Staff dig through old records. Someone is tracking down a receipt from eight months ago. And the question nobody wants to ask out loud starts floating around the office: Are we sure this […]