Nonprofit leaders have a reputation of being strong in the areas of compassion, communication, and ambition, but being weaker in their financial acumen. And, you know, that isn’t a bad thing at all! No one can be the best at everything, which is why we have so many nonprofit clients that bring us in to supplement their team of passionate advocates and leaders with our financial skills and experience.
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We understand the intricacies of how nonprofit accounting differs from for-profit accounting and bring that expertise to every engagement. We do what we do best – cleaning up the books, ensuring grant accounting regulations are followed, improving financial reporting for stakeholders, maintaining cash flow to fund programming, and aiding in growth planning initiatives – so that nonprofit leaders can do what they do best – leading the kinds of organizations that can change the world!

But for leaders that want to better understand what’s most important in nonprofit accounting, we’re always willing to lend our expertise to help them grow professionally. So, today we’re providing a high-level overview of what makes nonprofit accounting unique to offer a sort of crash course in NFP accounting. 

​Here at ASP, most of our clients are small-to-medium-sized businesses and nonprofits that need part-time accounting and bookkeeping help. After years of working with clients, we have noticed that many of them fall into the same few unfortunate patterns. But the good news is that we are uniquely able to help them break out of these patterns to find long-term success. Let’s look at some mini case studies that illustrate the types of scenarios where we can help!

As accounting professionals we are always looking for ways to educate business leaders on the importance of internal accounting controls to help protect their organizations. Today we want to share a real account of fraud that we found out about from a colleague to highlight the fundamental fact that fraud can happen anywhere!
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Although this story might be difficult to hear, we think it’s important to stress the fact that, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, fraud can happen at small businesses, family run companies, and even at nonprofit organizations. In fact, fraud is probably more likely to occur in those environments than at major corporations or publicly traded companies because bigger entities often have far more accounting protections in place to better protect their assets.

​Do nonprofit organizations need the same level of accounting support that for-profit entities do? Absolutely! Accounting and finance support is critical for nonprofits looking to receive funding because it increases their likelihood of both securing funding as well as utilizing that funding to drive organizational growth afterwards.
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Let’s explore the many ways in which accounting support can benefit nonprofit organizations looking for funding!

This conversation expresses the quandary that nonprofit organizations deal with every day – they understand the importance of good financial management, but they also realize that getting funding to invest more in this area is going to be an uphill battle. As a result, they need a cost-effective way to hire a nonprofit accountant or find accounting services on a budget. 

A guest post from Jen Girard at CFO Selections

We get this request all the time. A small non-profit needs to hire a new Finance Manager. Sometimes they call this person a CFO or Controller, but whatever the title, the role is a Superhero who wears multiple costumes and does it all!

How do you find (and afford) this person? Find out how other non-profits are doing it: