Your Audit – How’s it going? Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) Most nonprofit leaders have been involved in selecting an auditor.  Audited financial statements are key to obtaining grant money and supporting the Board’s oversight.  But most would agree that audits come with headaches when the audit doesn’t go as expected.  You’ve probably [...]

Risk and Your Reserve Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) We’ve all been involved in planning a charity event of some kind, a gala, a barbecue, a 5k.  When I’m involved in planning an event, I stress about what might go wrong, and I go into checklist mode.  One time, I had a checklist [...]

Tales from the Balance Sheet Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) Question:  True or False—If you want to evaluate the money that went out of your organization, just review the expense section of your financial statements.  Answer:  False!  While you can evaluate outgoing payments by reviewing your recorded expenses, that’s not the whole story.    [...]

Providing Social Services— and staying afloat Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) If your organization provides government-funded social services, you know you’re among the nonprofits with the tightest budgets.  You probably accept it as part of delivering your mission.  Social service providers often depend on funding that just doesn’t cover the cost of the [...]

New Nonprofit GAAP – ready for liquidity reporting? Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) You can’t put it off any longer.  The year has come when you’ll have to implement the new nonprofit financial reporting GAAP.  While it’s true that you may not be putting together the financial statements for your audit until this [...]

New Nonprofit GAAP – ready for functional expense reporting? Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) You can’t put it off any longer.  The year has come when you’ll have to implement the new nonprofit financial reporting GAAP.  While it’s true that you may not be putting together the financial statements for your audit until [...]

Understanding the Business Owners on Your Board—Governance Has this ever happened with one of your new Board members?  Bob, a local business owner, was excited to begin his term on your Board.  He came to every meeting and participated enthusiastically in Board discussions.  He had a lot of new ideas.  After a while, though, Bob’s [...]

Understanding the Business Owners on Your Board--Stewardship Have you ever heard this Board discussion? Executive Director: The auditors’ management letter is in your package. You’ll note that they’re reporting a material weakness in our controls over our outgoing payments.  Apparently, with our new online bill pay, our bookkeeper can pay bills online in any amount [...]

Need to Reset Your Reserve? Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) Does your nonprofit have a reserve? * You know, an amount your Board has set aside for special needs. Like many nonprofit leaders, you may be revisiting your reserves right now, and you may be finding that the institutional memory has grown a [...]

Your Year-End Close— is your cake done?  Joan M. Renner, CPA, CGMA, Director 501(c)(fit!) It’s unofficially summer!  School’s almost out.  There’s a frenzy of year-end picnics for every sports team and after-school activity.   And, amid all this, what’s coming up?  Your nonprofit’s year-end.  If your fiscal year ends on June 30, your year is [...]