Meet Our Team

She spends her free time gardening, reading fantasy novels, and playing games with her children. Fund accounting rules leave plenty of room for error – especially if you’re new to bookkeeping. We put together our recommendations for non-profit accounting best practices. Your non-profit must prepare annual financial statements to report its activities.

Erica Strevel, Account Manager

That is why if you are unfamiliar with the whole process, we present you with a complete guide on bookkeeping for nonprofits. Aplos partners with Stripe Payments Company for money transmission services and account services with funds held at Fifth Third Bank N.A., Member FDIC. If we have any questions, we will ask you to classify transactions into the proper income and expense accounts.

Comparing the Nonprofit Bookkeeper vs. Accountant

• She loves the nonprofit world, continuously learning and expanding her accounting skillset, and working with the passionate and dedicated folks who run nonprofit organizations.
• Specialized in fund accounting and equipped with Aplos Software, our Bookkeeping Specialists have helped thousands of organizations, and we do it well.
• If your nonprofit is just getting started with bookkeeping, you may not have the resources or level of need to bring on a new team member to fill that position.
• Their responsibilities extend to budgeting, preparing for financial policies, and ensuring compliance.
• The software should also be user-friendly and scalable to accommodate the organization’s growth.
• Amanda is a detail-oriented bookworm committed to keeping all processes up to date and as efficient as possible.

This method tracks income and expenses when they are earned or incurred (not at the time money is exchanged). The accrual method accounting services for nonprofit organizations is considered a more accurate financial picture of the organization’s activities. Bookkeepers are in charge of maintaining your books closely day in and day out.

• The program offers numerous integrations and an easy-to-use interface, even for those who aren’t tech-savvy.
• You can determine whether these are one-time or regular experiences and choose how to raise funds for different programs that don’t gain as much financial support.
• Unlike for-profit entities, nonprofits must adhere to specific guidelines and standards to maintain their tax-exempt status and demonstrate their financial stewardship to donors and stakeholders.
• Bookkeeping for nonprofits is recording and analyzing financial transactions to ensure compliance with state and federal accounting rules.
• Managing your nonprofit’s bookkeeping can be challenging, however, accurate, reliable books are crucial to the long term success of every nonprofit organization.

The Best Guide to Bookkeeping for Nonprofits: How to Succeed

Bookkeeping for nonprofits is recording and analyzing financial transactions to ensure compliance with state and federal accounting rules. We provide full-charge bookkeeping services to nonprofit organizations with annual operating budgets of $250,000 and up. Since your treasurer is typically a member of the board of directors and your CFO works closely with the rest of your executive leadership team, their roles are fairly easy to distinguish. However, your bookkeeper and accountant are both professionals below the executive level who work with financial data in distinct ways.

In short, bookkeeping involves the day-to-day recording of financial transactions, whereas accounting takes a broader view and summarizes financial data. Another big difference between bookkeeping vs accounting is that bookkeepers provide the foundation to accountants, whereas accountants prepare financial statements and conduct audits. Nonprofit bookkeeping is the process of systematically recording, organizing, and tracking a nonprofit’s financial activities. It allows your organization to monitor its spending, fundraising, assets, receivables, payables, and other transactions essential to its operations.

• Accountants rely on accurate bookkeeping to prepare annual financial statements and tax returns.
• All expenditures, charity, payments, and other financial information are recorded by bookkeepers in an orderly software platform or worksheet.
• We provide full-charge bookkeeping services to nonprofit organizations with annual operating budgets of $250,000 and up.
• When you reconcile your bank accounts, all you’re doing is comparing each transaction from your bank statement with the ones you have in your books.
• Our clients are provided a deeply-discounted subscription to the leading, cloud-based accounting software platform available, Quickbooks Online.

Nonprofit bookkeeper vs. accountant

This statement contains information on how much cash an organization generates from investing, financing, and operations. If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop online fundraising tool that seamlessly integrates with your CRM, marketing tool, or accounting software, take a look at Donorbox. Over 100,000 nonprofits worldwide have used our tool to boost donations with features like peer-to-peer fundraising, text-to-give, event ticketing, recurring donations, and more. As a bookkeeper, it may be necessary to meet with your nonprofit’s accountant weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. Weekly meetings with an accountant should go over how to adhere to your budget goals and track fund accounting.

• All grants and gifts are included in your total revenues if you run a non-profit.
• This reduces the possibility of errors and guarantees reliability and accuracy.
• A nonprofit accountant requires a minimum of a four-year college education with a degree in the field of accounting.
• This lets you easily predict your cash flow and manage your precious dollars.
• Bank reconciliation is the process of ensuring an organization’s records (balance sheet, general ledger account, cash flow, etc.) are accurate.
• Book a demo today to see what running your business is like with Bench.

Payroll Processing

Nonprofit bookkeepers are essential for maintaining financial health and transparency in charitable organizations. Their meticulous record-keeping and analytical skills support accurate reporting, informed decision-making, and compliance with nonprofit regulations. Good bookkeepers excel in time management and organization, which helps to optimize workflows and complete critical financial processes accurately and punctually. This is crucial for maintaining nonprofit compliance and meeting reporting requirements.

That way, you can be sure that your nonprofit maintains both its 501(c)(3) status and the trust of its supporters. Think of bookkeeping as studying for a test—it’s the necessary first step you must take to prepare yourself for the big exam. In the same way, bookkeeping can prepare your nonprofit’s financial records and budget for tax filings, annual reports, and every other deep dive into your assets.