Peeling Back The Covers On Your Finance Organization

Peeling Back The Covers On Your Finance Organization: Diagnosing Financial Issues And Seizing Opportunities Rebeka Mazzone Use Twitter Hashtag #npweb Special Thanks To Our Sponsors

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Today’s Speaker Rebeka Mazzone Accounting Management Solutions, Inc. Hosting: Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership Assisting with chat questions: Chris Dumas, FirstGiving

Peeling Back the Covers of Your Finance Department Rebeka J. Mazzone, CPA Accounting Management Solutions, Inc. September 29, 2010

Agenda • Overview/Introduction • Case Study • Common Issues • What should you look for?

Rebeka J. Mazzone, CPA Director, Rhode Island Region Accounting Management Solutions, Inc. 6

About Us • For more than a decade, Accounting Management Solutions, (AMS) has provided accounting support and financial management leadership at the consulting CFO, controller and accounting manager level to dynamic companies throughout the Northeast.

Why Should You Care About Finance? • Finance impacts every aspect of your organization • To know finance is to work well with it • Money and mission are directly linked 8

Anatomy of a Financial Operations Review • Assess financial operations • Identify issues and areas for improvement • Prioritize best practices and next steps • Reviews are frequently used during organizational changes

Example: AMS Rapid DiagnosticTM Current State Gap Analysis Best Practices Day 1 Day 5 Assessment Review Output Operations Policies/Procedures Recommendations Systems Financial Health ROI/ Profitability Process Best Practices Implementation Plan

Case Study: $7M Not-for-profit Real Estate 11

How Can You Prevent This? 12

Case Study: $18M Healthcare Organization 13

How Can You Prevent This? 14

Common Themes • Inadequate reporting • Improper staffing • Inadequate management and board oversight • Lack of strategic measures to help detect early warning signs 15

What Should You Know About Finance? • Do we have enough resources to effectively deliver the programs we have committed to? • What are our outstanding liabilities? • What will our future resources look like? • Are we effectively managing our financial processes? • Do we have the right team in place? 16

Reporting as a Roadmap 17

Reporting Question Reports Where do we want to go? Strategic plan How are we going to get there? Budget Do we have enough resources Balance Sheet and Cash Flow to get there? Are we on track? Income Statement vs. Budget If not, what are we going to do Board Discussion about it? 18

Finance Department • Bookkeeper • Controller/Director of Finance • CFO 19

Staffing • Job description • Expert interview • Skill set match • Effective transition 20

Policies, procedures, checklists 21

Audits • Management letter comments are very valuable • Address issues from previous years’ audits • Talk to auditors about adjusting entries • Audit adjustments should be recorded monthly, not annually • Why would you want to show your Board numbers that are different from what you will show the public? 22

Engaged Board and Management • Ask the “dumb” questions • Ensure more than one member of the Board understands finance • Perform board member training and orientation • Present financial information in a meaningful way 23

Goal: Improve Operations OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES PROFITABILITY/CASH FLOW

Next Steps: Questions to Ask • Is there financial knowledge across the organization? • Is your organization missing critical functions? • Do you have the right people in the right role? • Can you link money to mission?

Contact Us • Interested in • Additional Information? • AMS Newsletter with reporting deadlines and industry updates? • Invitations to upcoming events and seminars? • Access to our online resource Rebeka J. Mazzone, CPA rmazzone@amsolutions.net center? (866) 267-9952 Rhode Island Office New York Office Massachusetts Office 1 Richmond Square, Suite 124 C 1501 Broadway – 12thFloor 800 South Street, Suite 195 Providence, RI 02906 New York, NY 10036 Waltham, MA 02453 (866) 267-9952 (212) 984-0711 (781) 419-9200

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Peeling Back The Covers On Your Finance Organization

by NonprofitWebinars.com on Sep 29, 2010

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Peeling Back The Covers On Your Finance Organization — Presentation Transcript