Our wide range of financial services help you get clarity about your finances. For less than the cost of a full-time employee, your books are kept up-to-date and we work closely with owners and managers to make sure you understand the financial picture and its implications. Instead of just producing reports with a lot of numbers, we help you understand the key trends and our customized graphs help you understand the current financial scenario.
Additionally, for non-profits, the financial story-telling is very important because financial statements (positive trends as well as set backs) need to be understood in context and that message needs to be delivered to management, board members, and funders.
Typical Outsourced Accounting Setup
Typical Monthly Tasks and Reporting
- Record deposits and expense transactions
- Reconcile accounts and review any discrepancies and uncleared checks
- Record payroll through journal entry and prepare employee pay-stubs
- Review financials for accuracy
- Prepare report package which includes financial reports presented in detail but also with easy to understand graphs that convey the key issues. Graphs showing how revenues are tracking against projections helps one quickly identify issues and discrepancies. Trend graphs give a high-level view and more importantly the context.
- Prepare cover letter with important notes
Additional Monthly Work for Not-for-Profits
- Record additional journal entries to release restricted funds
- Additional graphs and reports showing changes in restricted and unrestricted balances
- Reports for project managers showing how they are tracking against their budgets to identify causes and solutions
Typical Quarterly Work
- Record additional journal entries to record charges for insurance, etc
- Prepare payroll tax returns to fulfill federal and state requirements
- Presentation of financial results and projections
Typical Annual Work
- Prepare annual payroll documents such as W2s
- Record annual end-of-fiscal-year entries and look at overall financial picture
Presentation and Meetings with Owners, Executive Directors, and Board of Directors
Effective communication is vital so that key decision makers are made aware of upcoming issues and the financial position in context. All owners and executive directors should have their finger on the pulse of the organization and usually the most important decisions always have a financial aspect to them.
We prepare packages for such meetings and present the data in an easy to understand manner, even for those who are unfamiliar with finances. Questions are answered and further inquiry encouraged. Helping you understand your own financials is our mission and we develop strategies to maximize your effectiveness.
Preparation for Annual Taxes, Audit/Review Reports, and 990 Tax Forms
Taxes can be a stressful time but they have to be done accurately and on time. Certain steps are vital, such as making decisions on uncleared checks, cleaning up the accounts receivables as well as accounts payables balances. Journal entries need to be made for accrual-based accounting to record depreciation of assets and revisions to inventory values. Reconciliation of payroll is important so that all balances match up to tax returns filed and any errors are corrected.
A comprehensive package is then prepared for the accountant so that the corporate tax returns can be completed for review. Upon careful review and approval of the tax returns, the taxes are filed. Journal entries are then imported to make sure that our financials match the tax returns.
Non-profits require the additional accounting for functional expenses and restricted funds.
Sales Tax Filings
We ensure that the accounting solution produces reports that can be easily used for the preparation of the sales tax returns. This streamlines the process and reduces errors.
Budgeting, Forecasting, and Tracking
This is a critical step that needs to be done well before the beginning of the fiscal year to project revenue and expenditure targets for multiple years if possible. Creating a realistic budget allows one to plan the business’ growth and it is equally important to track against it periodically by keeping it as a live document.
It is a useful tool for the anticipation of various scenarios. Budgeting for non-profits with participation of the programmatic department heads is imperative to get ‘buy-in’. Monthly reports are produced to show program leaders how their actuals are tracking against their budgets and this helps raise flags in a timely manner.
Many funders require updated budgets in order to even consider grant applications.
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