Tag Archives: UCOA

Functional Accounting

The Secrets of Cost AllocationA few years back I co-wrote an article about getting accurate numbers from your financial system for the California Association of Nonprofits that was based on a workshop I developed. This blog post and the last post excerpt some of the material from that piece. For folks who would like the whole article you can click the above link. The other post is on cost allocation, this one is on setting up a functional accounting system.

Functional accounting is a method of accounting that is based on the organization’s major types of activities, primarily (a) program or mission-based services and (b) supporting services such as administration, governance and fund development.

Functional accounting allows you to identify three key characteristics of every dollar coming into and going out of the organization:

Dollars coming in (income) Dollars going out (expense)
Who Who is providing the dollar (i.e., the specific funder) Who is paying for an expense (i.e., the specific funder)
What What type of income it is (e.g., grant, contract, earned, etc.) What the dollar will be spent on (e.g., payroll, supplies, etc.)
Why Why they are providing the dollar (i.e., for which program or purpose) Why the dollar is being spent (i.e., for which program or purpose) Administrative and Fundraising would be a Why as well.

Breaking down expenses by what and why reflects the broad outlines of major nonprofit reporting requirements. For example, the IRS Form 990 asks nonprofits to divide expenses by program, management/general and fundraising. A statement of functional expenses is required as part of the audit for voluntary health and welfare organizations.

But a statement of functional expenses is also recommended for every organization for three reasons. First, unless your organization is very small (less than $25,000 in revenue annually), you probably have to file a 990 or 990-EZ already. Second, even if you are very small now, you might someday be large enough to need an audit – so you might as well get in the habit of creating a statement of functional expenses right now.

Third, and perhaps more importantly, a statement of functional expenses is an ideal method for tracking the real costs of program and supporting activities, making it an invaluable tool for decision-making. It allows you to see exactly what Program X is costing, what Program Y is costing, whether your fundraising is proportionate to the areas that need it, whether you want to build, maintain or scale back a program and so forth.

The information found in a statement of functional expenses can most easily be organized, streamlined and accessed through the meeting of two basic functional accounting tools: your chart of accounts and your functional areas.

Chart of Accounts

A chart of accounts consists of numbered account names that describe the types of income and expenses that your organization experiences over time. It is the list of categories that tracks the what of each dollar coming into and going out of your organization.

Your chart of accounts should be flexible enough to change as your organization changes. For example, you want to be able to insert new income and expense categories as they arise. But you want to be able to insert them within the broader categories of the existing chart instead of simply appending them to the end of it, which is why it is numbered by the tens, hundreds and thousands instead of 1, 2, 3 and so on.

Functional Areas

Functional areas place the who and the what of each dollar into the why – the program or service for which that dollar is designated. Many organizations that I have worked with tend to track the why by funder or contract rather than by mission-based purpose. But if you use Functional Accounting, you can use functional areas to cross-cut funder information with programs/services and income or expense line items so you can accurately track any given dollar in its journey through your organization. If you haven’t already developed functional areas, start with your mission. Read your goals and values statements, and take a look at how your nonprofit is divided programmatically. Identify each larger purpose, within the overall organization, on which you spend time and money.

Each transaction coming into or going out of the organization should be identified with a code corresponding to the who, the what and the why of that transaction. The more you can integrate these three pieces, the higher-quality, more accurate reports you will produce. And you will produce them more quickly. If your accounting system cannot slice and dice your numbers these three ways, you might consider an upgrade of your financial software.  Don’t forget also to integrate those three questions – who, what and why – into all your relevant processes such as payment requisition forms and record-keeping for bills that come in. It can take some time to set up, but once it is set up, tracking and reporting runs very smoothly. And it will make your auditor happy, too.

If you would like to learn about creating a functional accounting system and policies for your nonprofit please click on the image below.

My Financial Management Plan

Financial Management

MFMP-logoI have written before about creating policies for your nonprofit. Now nonprofits have a new tool they can easily use to create their own financial management policies and plans. The Nonprofit Risk Management Center has a new tool called My Financial Management Plan where users can go through up to 21 different modules on nonprofit financial and accounting topics to create a variety of policies and procedures to help manage, organize and streamline their financial operations. From the Risk Management Center:

Nonprofit leaders have spent countless hours developing the necessary components of a financial management plan. But for many organizations the components, from an annual budget, return on investment strategy, cash flow planning tool and more, remain disparate. The nonprofit lacks a cohesive plan that reflects the organization’s commitment to the effective stewardship of its assets. My Financial Management Plan was created to guide leaders in updating the components of their financial management systems and integrating these components into a cohesive plan. This powerful system features covers topics such as Board Fiduciary Obligations, Managing Fraud Risk, Managing Cash Flow, Return on Investment Analysis, Cost Allocation, Classifying Net Assets, Managing Cash Flow, Budgeting, the form 990 and Grants and Contributions.

My Financial Management Plan is a powerful tool to turn financial management strategies, policies and protocols into a plan that will help your nonprofit demonstrate both competence and accountability. Use the “Plan Modules” feature to go through the 22 system modules. Each module offers the opportunity to upload existing material from your financial management system, create new content (based on our templates or created “on the fly”), or skip sections you don’t wish to use. Use the “Manage My Plan” feature to edit your draft plan, upload supporting PDF files and view/download your plan. The system also features a classroom with easy-to-understand articles and resources on a wide range of financial management topics.

I was fortunate enough to work on this project and create a lot of the module content. I know that this will be a great tool for nonprofits to learn about what they need know about with regards to their nonprofit’s finances and creating the appropriate policies and procedures to ensure good financial stewardship. For those not ready to buy access to the program you can register with the site to receive periodic email updates on nonprofit financial issues.

If you have any questions or comments about the program please let me know via email or in the comments below.

The Funder is Not the Program

monryshirtWhen I work with nonprofits I will often hear them talk about their [insert name of funder] program.  I always cringe a little at this because  it means they are sliding into thinking of the funder and the program as one in the same.

They are not.

I can see how this thinking has evolved in the sector.  Someone has a great idea for a program and they look for funding.  A particular foundation loves the idea and gives them a grant.  It then can be easy to associate the two things as one.  But I repeat here the mantra I was taught: “The funder is not the program.”  What happens if that big funder decides to stop giving money to that program?  Does it end?  Probably not.  The nonprofit will seek additional sources of income.  But the program could suffer if there is an interruption of funding and the nonprofit does not have some other way to keep money flowing into it.

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