No man acquires property without acquiring with it a little arithmetic also.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. Representative Men,“Montaigne” (1850).

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Bookkeeping For A Non-Profit Organization

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You have the opportunity to join a non-profit organization as their bookkeeper and while you may have a great deal of experience working within the business for profit world there are some differences between the two types of organizations that are important to consider.

Usually a nonprofit organization will be providing an important service to one or more parts of a community and the people of the community will pay dues and become members of the non-profit organization. Or the organization may have donors who donate services, money, merchandise or grants. In a non-profit organization, therefore, your customers or clients are members, donors or grant providers. And your Chart of Accounts would include the accounts Member Dues Receivables, Donor Receivables and Grant Receivables in the Current Asset section of your Balance Sheet. When a pledge for a donation is received you would treat this pledge as a donor receivable and when a grant is awarded it would also be posted as a grant receivable. Member Receivables would be posted when an invoice is produced billing the member.

One important difference in nonprofit bookkeeping is that FASB (The Financial Accounting Standards Board) requires nonprofits to break out revenues and expenses for certain activities. Often donations and/or grants have restrictions on how the receipts can be used. Revenues that have been received or promised and have constraints of use or time are restricted assets and are posted to balance sheet accounts until such time the constraints are met. For example a fund raising event may be instituted to raise money to build a new wing for a hospital. These funds when received would be restricted by use. They could not be used or co-mingled with other hospital revenues.

Some of the reports you may be required to produce are:

Statement of Financial Position - balances of your assets and liabilities as of a specific date.

Statement of Financial Income and Expense - reports how much money brought in versus money spent within a specific period.

Statement of Functional Expense (990) - Detailed listing of expenses within a specific period.

Budget vs Actual by Program/Project - Comparison of funds spent to budget plan.

As the bookkeeper for a nonprofit organization you will be responsible for keeping clear and correct records and providing reports which will document the proper collection, disbursement, and control of all money received by the organization within each of its individual funds. It can be a rewarding experience knowing that the detailed work you perform is helping your nonprofit organization to make a difference in so many lives.

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