How Proper Accounting Can Drive Financial Transparency in Nonprofits 

Nonprofits don’t have stockholders, but they do have to worry about keeping up with financial regulations. Proper accounting practices help nonprofits meet these regulations while focusing on their mission.

Many donations and grants are restricted for certain purposes, so nonprofits must use a specific type of accounting called fund accounting to keep these funds organized and only spend them on what they’re supposed to be used for.

Record-Keeping

When transparent with donors and supporters, nonprofits build trust in their mission-driven work. But that transparency must be backed up with proper accounting procedures that ensure financial accuracy and accountability. These procedures include written policies, segregation of duties, regular internal audits, and adequate record-keeping.

Nonprofits typically use a form of accounting known as “fund accounting.” This approach recognizes that each program, administrative expense, and fundraising activity has specific budgetary and reporting requirements.

A chart of accounts is tailored to each entity, which makes it easy to allocate expenses accurately among programs and activities. This helps nonprofits meet the reporting requirements of grantors and contracting entities.

This accounting for non profit organization also allows them to track income, expenses, liabilities, and net assets by fund regularly. This enables organizations to understand their financial health and make better management decisions. Nonprofits need to have access to their financial information daily. More is needed to receive a monthly report.

Using an accounting service allows for updates to be made in real time. This ensures that expenses, donor reporting, and grant reporting are updated promptly to inspire confidence in the organization. It can also prevent costly mistakes that may negatively impact cash flow, such as erroneous revenue recognition or overpayment of expenses.

Financial Reporting

A nonprofit’s financial transparency depends on having accurate, timely accounting information. This allows staff, leadership, and donors to see the real-time state of your finances at any given time. In addition to enabling compliance and inspiring confidence in donors, financial reporting allows your organization to make better management choices and spot any issues that arise.

Nonprofits need to produce several different types of financial statements. Some, such as the statement of activities and the statement of functional expenses, help to classify your organization’s various revenue sources and costs. Other, such as the budget and the income statement, detail how these costs will impact your organization over time, often a year.

Lastly, a nonprofit must prepare a Form 990 each year to show that it has fulfilled its tax-exempt status with the IRS. This document includes detailed information about the organization’s revenue, expenses, and net assets over the past year.

In addition to these reports, a nonprofit should be able to produce individual fund-level statements. This enables your nonprofit to track donations with donor-imposed restrictions and other limitations and quickly report the status of these funds over time.

Internal Controls

Nonprofit groups differ from for-profit entities in several ways, but the accounting process remains crucial. Despite not seeking to generate profit, nonprofit groups must still report revenue from donors and other fundraising activities and prepare an IRS Form 990 to maintain tax-exempt status.

In addition, the accounting team must implement internal control procedures to reduce the risk of financial mismanagement and fraud. These controls, like segregating duties, auditing, and implementing approvals, protect your organization’s reputation and assets.

Nonprofits also leverage a unique accounting method called “fund accounting.” This type of reporting helps to differentiate between restricted and unrestricted funds, which are then used to track functional expenses on the organization’s statement of activities (similar to an income statement).

This method benefits nonprofits that must showcase how funding is utilized for their mission rather than simply showing the total amount of money available. In addition to providing a clear picture of your nonprofit’s finances, maintaining transparency can help you build trust with your stakeholders. This is especially true if your organization is transparent about the individuals who lead and govern your entity. 

Financial Transparency

Donors support nonprofits because they believe in their missions and want to ensure the donated money is used for its intended purpose. Financial transparency assures donors that their donations are being used wisely.

Nonprofits must also adhere to strict tax regulations, including filing an annual IRS Form 990. This document showcases the organization’s revenue and expenses over a specific period and is critical to nonprofit transparency.

In addition to providing the public access to Form 990, nonprofits can increase transparency by listing current board members, advisory board members, and key staff on their websites. This helps donors connect with the people making decisions for the nonprofit, and it can build trust.

Like for-profit companies, nonprofits may receive donations and grants specifically designated for certain programs or initiatives. This type of funding is called restricted funds, and it presents unique bookkeeping and accounting challenges for a nonprofit.

To overcome these challenges, a nonprofit can use an accounting known as fund accounting. This allows a nonprofit to allocate resources into different groups, or “funds,” and then run fund-level reports for donors.