Comparing Your Nonprofit Budget to Actual

Do you know the financial health of your nonprofit organization? Knowing where your finances stand is essential to effective nonprofit management. One of the best ways to get a quick read on your organization’s financial health is to compare your nonprofit budget to actual performance.

A budget to actual analysis helps you look at your estimated revenue and expense versus what your organization actually saw. Let’s take a closer look at the importance of budget to actual analysis and go over some tips for performing a budget to actual review.

The Importance of Nonprofit Budget to Actual Reporting

Nonprofit budget to actual reporting is the process of comparing your organization’s budget to the actual revenue and expenses over a given time. It’s an essential part of nonprofit financial management for a few reasons.

First, reviewing your nonprofit budget compared to actual performance helps you maintain financial transparency and accountability. By knowing where budgeted funds actually end up, you reduce the chance of fraud or inaccuracies in your financial statements. This helps improve donor confidence in your organization. Accurate data also helps you stay in compliance with legal regulations and tax laws, such as annual IRS filings.

In addition, budget to actual reporting can help improve strategic decision-making and financial performance evaluation. Budget to actual reporting lets you spot trends and identify issues in your finances so you can make data-driven decisions.

What to Look for in a Nonprofit Budget to Actual Analysis

There are a few different metrics to keep on your radar as you complete a budget to actual analysis, including:

• Variances: Budget variances are the difference between your organization’s budget and its actual finances, generally by category. For example, you budget $2,000 per month for payroll, but your actual costs are $2,500. You have a negative variance of $500 in the payroll category.
• Revenue sources: Recording revenue is an essential part of running a nonprofit. Your budget to actual analysis helps you identify regular sources of revenue–as well as any areas where you could improve revenue streams.

• Expenses: Your nonprofit expenses are one of the most straightforward areas of a budget to actual analysis. However, looking at budgeted versus actual expenses can provide helpful insights into where your organization’s money is going.

• Cash flow: Monitoring your budgeted and actual cash flow can help you spot and fix cash flow issues proactively.

• Budget assumptions: Budget to actual reporting helps you accurately create budget assumptions using real data from your current–and past–finances. Regularly reviewing budget to actual reports can make it easier to form accurate and effective budget assumptions for the future.

• Financial ratios: Financial ratios are financial calculations that help you monitor your organization’s financial state. They can help you identify which areas of your organization are most financially successful, or where you may need to trim the budget.

• Budgeting process: Comparing your budget to actual data is an important step in improving your budgeting process. The closer your budget to actual reports gets, the more effective your budget becomes.

Tips for Making Adjustments if Your Nonprofit Budget to Actual Is Off

Even the most financially savvy nonprofit leaders can have variances in their budget to actual reports. If you find your budget to actual is off, you may need to reevaluate your budgeting process to create more accurate budgets going forward.

A budget to actual report makes it easy to identify where you may need to work on your budgeting. Being proactive and strategic with budget adjustments will help your organization improve the usefulness of a budget.

Follow these five tips to help get your budget to actual back on track:

• Identify the root cause: This involves looking through your estimated and actual expenses and revenue to find where the variations occurred–and why they happened in the first place.
• Prioritize areas for correction: Make a list of the areas or categories of your budget to actual report that is the most impactful for your organization and plan to focus on fixing those areas first.
• Adjust spending priorities: It’s not always possible to completely cut expenses, but you may be able to reallocate funds between expense categories to better align your budget and actual data.
• Explore ways to generate more revenue: If your actual expenses are higher than your budget allows, it may be time to consider new revenue streams, such as additional fundraising or applying for grant money.
• Continue monitoring process: Regularly reviewing your budget and comparing it with your actual expense and revenue data is the key to improving your budget and reducing variances. Additionally, regular reviews can help promote accountability and transparency, building trust with your donors and your board of directors.

Leverage Your Nonprofit Budget to Actual for Success

Effective budgeting and monitoring of actual financial performance are essential for the long-term sustainability of your nonprofit. Reviewing your budget to actual data gives you a chance to spot trends and identify problems in your organization’s financial health. This information then helps you proactively address issues and make strategic adjustments to improve your financial standing.

If you’re unsure of where to start comparing budget to actual performance, consider working with a trusted nonprofit accounting firm like The Charity CFO. Our dedicated team of nonprofit accountants can help you review your budget to actual reporting. We’ll help you identify trends and create solutions so your nonprofit can run smoother and more effectively.

Contact us today to learn more about budget to actual analysis.