Renee Richardson, Chief Financial Officer at Population Council (http://www.popcouncil.org), presented on August 20, 2015 on the topic of "Nonprofit Accounting." She spoke to the Nonprofit Executive Directors group (http://bit.ly/nedgroup and http://bit.ly/nedmeet) - on LinkedIn and Meetup. Watch or listen to past recordings of NED events on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOGxWhkQlwTU-Y80bcy2Dgg

1. Nonprofit Accounting
Renee Richardson,
CFO at Population Council

2. Why Important?
• Nonprofit accounting is more complicated
than ‘for profit’ accounting
• The investment in a solid finance/accounting
infrastructure will help you achieve your
mission

3. Critical Resources
• People
• Financial/Accounting processes/systems
– Should be flexible to your organization
– Should be consistent
– Should involve appropriate checks and balances
– Pay attention to document storage and retention
• Technology

4. Chart of Accounts (COA)
• Alignment with:
– IRS 990 requirements
– financial statement requirements
• Should tell a story / allow for the automatic
generation of reports
– Provides foundation for strong financial reporting
• Funder requirements
– Donor reporting
Remember: garbage in = garbage out

5. Reporting (monthly)
• Cash flow management
• Ensure trends are on target
– Spending
– Receipts
• Standard Reports
– Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet)
– Statement of Activities (Income and Expenditure)
– Budget vs Actual Reports
– Statement of Functional Expenses

6. Budgeting
• Establishes credibility
• Sets expectations (reasonable targets)
• Provides a measurement tool
• Ensures emphasis on program / fundraising /
administration
• Allows for increased cash management