Nonprofit accounting

Nonprofits are not small businesses with a mission.

The accounting is genuinely different. A commercial bookkeeper who has never tracked a restricted grant will produce statements that look fine and answer none of the questions your board, your funders, or your auditor will ask.

Restricted versus unrestricted

The central discipline of nonprofit accounting is knowing which dollars carry strings and proving it. Every restricted contribution gets tracked against its purpose and released as conditions are met, so the statement of activities actually shows what is available to spend — not just what is in the bank.

Reporting your board can use

Most nonprofit boards are volunteers, and most treasurers are not accountants. Statements arrive in the formats they expect — statement of financial position, statement of activities, budget versus actual, cash flow summary — with a plain-language note on anything that needs attention. The goal is a treasurer who can present with confidence.

Grant and funder reporting

Funder schedules are far easier to produce when the underlying records already reconcile. Program expense tracking, allocation between program and administration, and the supporting documentation grantors ask for are all maintained as part of the monthly close rather than reconstructed at deadline.

Audit-ready as a standing condition

Records are kept audit-ready year round, not assembled in a panic each spring. Trial balance, supporting schedules, and documentation stay organized so that when an audit or review is required, the fieldwork is short and the fee is lower.

Without the cost of an internal department

This structure suits organizations with streamlined transaction volume that want consistent professional oversight but cannot justify a full-time accountant. You get a CPA's judgment on the work and a bookkeeper's hands on the entries, at a fraction of a salaried hire.