The Insider’s Guide to Bookkeeping Services For Nonprofit Organizations

Bookkeeping includes invoicing, employee payroll, financial reporting, and more. Is your nonprofit interested in using bookkeeping services? You’re in the right place.

Affordable bookkeeping services for nonprofits are crucial for ensuring financial stability and accuracy. Keep reading to learn exactly how nonprofits can benefit from outsourcing bookkeeping.

What Are Bookkeeping Services?

Bookkeeping and Accounting may be used interchangeably, but they’re very different. Bookkeeping is focused on cash flow for an institution while accounting is basically analyzing all of that data. This helps assess the overall financial health of the organization.

Nonprofit organizations have many financial needs like any business. They have to file complicated taxes, certify for tax-exemption status, and report out. They also have to track donations! This can be a lot for a small staff to handle.

Bookkeeping services are handled by a team of professionals who have experience in the field with nonprofits. Many of these experts have worked with religious organizations, foundations, and even museums. They use software and knowledge of financial trends to help your nonprofit succeed.

Why Should I Use Bookkeeping Services?

There are many reasons to outsource bookkeeping. In addition to being safer and more secure, it enables you to focus on your organization’s mission.

Get Auditing Assistance

Nonprofits typically undergo an annual audit, unlike many other industries. This is time-consuming for the bookkeepers and accountants at the institution.

Save time and money by using bookkeeping services. These services can ensure that your organization is reporting accurate information to the Internal Revenue Service. They can also ensure that your institution is in a state of financial health.

Auditing involves a complex analysis. It also involves finding records of all transactions and donations for an organization. Some nonprofits choose not to do this because of the workload. However, completing annual audits shows donors that your staff is committed to transparency. This can help secure future funds and help with grant applications.

Avoid Fraud

No one wants to talk about the possibility of fraud, but it can happen within the nonprofit world. Embezzlement is also a risk, especially with multiple employees in the finance department. If there aren’t checks and balances in place, tracing money can be difficult.

Luckily, outsourcing bookkeeping services can ensure integrity for your nonprofit. These highly-skilled bookkeepers know exactly what to look for to avoid fraud and can easily identify issues. That way, the issues are caught before they become harmful to the organization.

For example, bookkeepers can see double payments or cash from a new vendor. Maybe they see a sudden increase in payments. They can even comb through documents that appear to be backdated or have questionable signatures. These can be indicators that something fishy is going on at the organization.

Since they manage all documents, data, and cash flow, professional bookkeepers add a level of security to the institution. As a third-party entity, bookkeepers can help your organization stay safe. This ensures security for your nonprofit.

The typical organization loses 5% of it’s annual revenue to fraud. That can be a lot if your organization is a multi-national nonprofit. Avoid lost revenue by using an outsourced bookkeeper.

Get Tax Filing Assistance

For nonprofits to earn their 501(c)(3) status and tax exemption, they have to be transparent. This means complete accuracy with the IRS on all financial matters. This includes strategic and accurate bookkeeping to provide easy filing when it is needed.

Nonprofits can have many revenue streams, including tax-deductible donations, membership dues, and even ticket admissions. Getting everything organized for tax season can be really complicated.

Bookkeeping services are useful because they use software that organizes all records perfectly. These professionals can also help identify areas to lower expenses for your organization. That way, you can reap the most benefits of the money your organization receives.

Using a dedicated bookkeeper absolutely makes this a seamless experience. This reduces stress during tax time for the nonprofit staff. Instead, it gives you the time to work on your mission and serve the community.

Save Time and Money

Instead of spending time organizing receipts, invoices, and payroll, handoff those duties to an expert. Your staff can then spend more time executing your mission.

In 2013, nonprofits paid $634 billion in wages. Hiring and training new employees, even if they’re very talented bookkeepers and accountants, can take a lot of time and energy. Instead, spend that manpower and resources on finding an outsourced financial services business.

Once your outsourced bookkeeper is set up, it requires very little management on the nonprofit’s side.

Bookkeeping Software Is More Accurate

Your organization might not have the funds to have a full-time bookkeeper and bookkeeping software. Luckily, an outsourced bookkeeping service has those resources for you to benefit from.

Bookkeeping software makes everything much more accurate. There is so much room for error when a team handles financials by hand or in a simple Excel sheet.

Avoid that hassle by investing in affordable financial services.

Ready to Outsource Bookkeeping Services?

Now that you know the many benefits of using an outside service, request a meeting with us to get started.

Pretty soon, your nonprofit’s bookkeeping services will be a breeze.

Our dedicated and experienced team works with an array of nonprofits. Many of our clients have been able to expand their impact on the community due to our financial help.

Check out our blog for more information on how our nonprofit financial services could work for your organization.