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I Survived an IRS Audit
Uh oh. We are all afraid of getting audited by the IRS, but we don’t really know what would happen in one. Here is the True Life story of an environmental organization’s audit, how they survived, and their tips for the rest of us. It’s th …
Get the Most Value from Your Audit
Audits are expensive in terms of money, staff time, and board attention. CPA Dennis Walsh tells us how to wring the most value from them: An IRS tax audit has been described as an autopsy without the benefit of death. The financial statement …
Outsource Your Bookkeeping!
The most strategic decision you make regarding how to staff your accounting department may be to not staff it at all. Well, at least not with employees of your organization. Outsourced accounting — having the accounting done by an outside person …
Benchmarking and Analyzing Salaries: A Fast How-To
Everyone’s heard of benchmarking and salary analysis, but what are some easy tools to use? This article is adapted from a chapter in The Nonprofit’s Guide to Human Resources by Jan Masaoka, to be published by Nolo Press in the fall of 2011. …
Nonprofit Bookkeeping Test
If you’re not an accountant yourself, it can be hard to hire a qualified bookkeeper. How can you tell if an applicant really knows bookkeeping? CPA Dennis Walsh created this terrific assessment test you can give candidates for bookkeeping and ac …
A Board-Staff Agreement for Financial Accountability
Not all board members need to be familiar with financial terms and concepts, but eachorganization needs to develop a clear and explicit agreement for how financial accountability will be ensured. The following is a starting point for an agreement …
How Much to Pay the Executive Director?
Nonprofit board members are often puzzled when it comes to setting the salary of the executive director. On one hand, we want to keep our talented staff; on the other hand, we know the budget is tight. Some legal and practical guidelines: It’s m …
L3C: Pot of Gold or Space Invader?
For-profit companies continue to seek ways to obtain two benefits that are usually reserved for nonprofits: foundation grants and government tax exemptions. These efforts are led by both well-meaning individuals as well as those that simply want fundin …
Attorney Recommends Review Instead of Audit
When one nonprofit considered moving away from having an annual audit to having a review, the board wanted a legal opinion before making a decision. They sought out nationally-recognized nonprofit attorney Tom Silk, who has generously shared his letter …
An Agreed-Upon-Procedures (AUP) Success Story
An Agreed-Upon-Procedures Engagement is one where an auditor performs tests on only a portion of the organization’s finances, and can therefore be done at much lower cost. CPA Dennis Walsh discusses how this little-used process could be utilized more f …
