Bookkeeping

The Best Guide to Bookkeeping for Nonprofits: How to Succeed Foundation Group®

how to close the month nonprofit bookkeeping

But if you have a monthly closing process and checklist in place, you’ll be finishing accounting tasks and reconciling accounts in no time. With our nonprofit bookkeeping and accounting services, we’ll ensure your books are always audit-ready. Plus, give you timely financial reports and expert advice that help you carry out your mission. Every month run the aging reports for these accounts and investigate old open receivables and payables. Check on old payables as the payment could have been entered as a regular expense or check instead of a bill payment. In QuickBooks Online you can match accidental check or expense payments with the bill to close out the bill.

The nonprofit bookkeeper is the front line in the battle for the accurate financial data you need to run your business, so let’s review the core responsibilities of a nonprofit bookkeeper. Furthermore, nonprofit bookkeeping differs in some critical ways from for-profit bookkeeping too. Because nonprofit bookkeepers must manage restrictions, grants, and expenses in significantly more detailed ways than a for-profit bookkeeper.

Statement of financial position

It involves generally accepted accounting principles and other tasks all businesses employ when reporting finances, along with those specific to nonprofit organizations. The statement nonprofit bookkeeping of financial position represents the nonprofit version of the balance sheet. This statement provides insight into how much a nonprofit owes, what it owns, and how much money is left.

how to close the month nonprofit bookkeeping

Looking up a nonprofit’s Form 990—using services like Guidestar.org—can tell you a lot about its financial state. Most nonprofit-friendly accounting software like QuickBooks Aplos or Nonprofit Treasurer will allow you to generate financial statements automatically. Although it’s possible to manually generate financial statements from your ledger or spreadsheet, it takes a ton of accounting knowledge and time to do it right. In most cases, it’s better to let your accounting software or a bookkeeper take care of this step for you.

Forms & Instructions

Should there be a need for more accuracy (i.e., large print run or donor event at end of month) have AP staff reach out to the vendor and obtain an approximate amount of the charges to accrue. In general, smaller items don’t need to be accrued and can simply be charged to the next period. Jeff loves helping nonprofits achieve financial excellence through improved monthly reporting, cashflow management, strategic planning, and systems design.