As any professional will tell you, collaboration enhances the ability of each party to get more done. Separately, only so much can be accomplished, but together, greater things can be achieved. Examples abound of brands collaborating with other brands to enhance and amplify their success.

The same scenario plays out with your accounting system. Your current accounting system may be great at handling nonprofit accounting – but what about endowments?

Endowment accounting can be complex. AccuFund offers an Endowment Management System that can work with your existing accounting software to streamline the complexities of endowment accounting. Separately, each system is

The best business ideas start with solving a problem. Twenty years ago, AccuFund had its beginnings in solving a business issue and grew into a software company focused on helping local governments and nonprofit organizations achieve their mission.

In 2001, AccuFund founder Gordon Holfelder and co-founder Peter Stam sensed a business opportunity printing checks for NASCAR race winners. At that time, businesses that wished to print their own checks needed not just unique software, but specialized printers and magnetic ink, too.

The duo came up with a system that incorporated all elements needed to print checks on the go and

Whether a donor advised fund, a CPA firm providing accounting services to endowments, or an organization with an endowment, if you rely heavily on spreadsheets, you may want to explore an endowment accounting solution.

Why?

Here are five ‘red flag’ reasons why relying on spreadsheets doesn’t add up to best practices for endowment management.

1. Not Transparent
Having your endowment records in a spreadsheet makes it impossible to fully share transaction history with donors and co-workers. A spreadsheet makes it impossible to drill down from a report or dashboard to the underlying records.

2. Not Unit or UPMIFA Friendly.

By now you’ve probably heard about the changes coming with FASB ASU 2016-14.  The changes are significant and we’ve assembled a collection of resources to get you up to speed.

We have some concerns about what we’ve been hearing in the field:  responses to the question,  "How will you accomplish the new FASB ASU 2016-14 requirements?" 

There are four typical responses:  two of which are practical approaches, there’s one risky approach, and one troubling response.

Q:  How will you accomplish the new FASB ASU 2016-14 requirements?

Answer #1:  Use Excel Spreadsheets to Report

This is a risky course of action.

The deadlines for ASU 2016-14 are approaching.  Implementation of the standards will be disruptive – whether that disruption is minimal or acute will depend on how prepared you are and the capability of your nonprofit accounting solutions.

FASB ASU 2016-14: Here’s what’s changing for nonprofit organizations

Very simply put, the face or the presentation of your financials will be simplified.  Temporary and permanent restrictions will be combined into one column rather than being represented in two columns.  Enhanced disclosures should be relegated to the notes section of your financial statements.

For a more comprehensive treatment of the FASB ASU 2016-14

From fundamental ASU2016-14 FASB updates to company-specific software updates, equipping nonprofit organizations with the tools to improve reporting and financial management is top-of-mind for many, if not all, nonprofit executives and boards.

Personally speaking, when AccuFund makes enhancements to its products, you know 3 things for certain:

1. We are listening to our customers; what they need to help them improve the way they report, organize their data, work through their system, and overall manage their financials.
2. We are committed to the nonprofit and government marketplace we serve.
3. New enhancements set the stage for future enhancements.

With our

Never has there been a greater need for the services and support our nonprofits and local governments provide, in large cities and small towns, across the United States.

And at the same time, these nonprofits and local governments are challenged by the reality that funding is shrinking.

In order to persevere and continue providing for the communities they are charged with supporting, nonprofits and local governments need to maximize their technology, streamline their processes and provide their internal teams and stakeholders with the financial reporting needed to make informed decisions.

AccuFund is helping its customers meet this challenge head on

DUE DILIGENCE IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING NONPROFIT SOFTWARE MARKET

When organizations are closing in on the purchase of nonprofit accounting software, they generally take the time to call references.  Talking to other people who use the software is common and smart practice.  

People who are living with a solution – who rely on it each day to carry out their responsibilities – are in the very best position to give you great insight on strengths and weaknesses of a particular product.  We always encourage buyers to talk to other nonprofit and government organizations using AccuFund.

Product Due Diligence Isn’t

When mapping the direction and strategy of your nonprofit, the ultimate goal is always mission fulfillment.  But are there habits and processes that need to change in order to see dramatic improvement?  

Are there change agents within the organization that have pointed to areas of deficiency who have been routinely told “not yet”?  Are there areas of the organization that are operating exactly as they did five years ago, ten years ago?  What about your accounting department?  Are they using the same processes and tools as they were years ago?  Is the only change the increased number of spreadsheets

The following article was originally featured on the Nonprofit PRO website, December 2016.

The impact of nonprofit organizations in changing lives and communities for the better can never be fully calculated.

The wonderful goodness of combining the resources of knowledge, ability, funding, and delivery of service, in order to accomplish good - optimal assistance and transformation - is something nonprofit employees, funders, donors, advocates and volunteers should be proud of.

It could be said that the whole is greater than the sum of parts when it comes to nonprofits and their function in society.  And, it could be said that

Survey Says! Opportunities Abound for Organizations to Improve Endowment Management

AccuFund recently commissioned publisher Nonprofit PRO to survey its readers (nonprofit finance professionals and top organization management) to benchmark the methods used to manage endowment accounting.  With 272 endowment professionals responding, the vast majority of organizations (83%) manage endowments less than $100 million.

Opportunities Abound!

In spite of endowment management solutions available, only a small percentage of organizations (9.5%) are using one.  Rather, 35.5% are reliant on entry-level solutions requiring manual intervention and 55% are using an exorbitant system. The alarmingly high number of respondents (90.5%) using inefficient systems ultimately

Your staff is on edge.  You’re exhausted and stressed.  The only thing you can think about is getting through month-end.  

If that sounds familiar, read on, because while it’s not unusual for us to come across nonprofit accountants who experience the professional equivalent of going under house arrest during period-end closes; it is completely unnecessary.

Painful closings are a symptom of inadequate accounting systems.  Inadequate systems make your life harder, not easier. 

Beyond the monthly pain inflicted by inadequate accounting systems, the time chewed up by closing activities delays critical fund information getting into the hands of your organization’s

Implementing best practices is the gift that keeps on giving.  Best practices incorporated into the workflow of your nonprofit system helps you work smarter and usually faster that makeshift manual activities.

When best practices are combined with automation and offer a significant savings in time and money – that’s the best possible scenario, and going paperless is an activity that delivers each of those benefits.

We saw such positive results with clients that we recently conducted a series of webcasts showcasing ways nonprofits could benefit from going paperless.  You can view a recording of the presentation here.

So what’s

AccuFund has been working for many years with some large non-profits and foundations that require endowment accounting capabilities.  Our Allocation Management module was developed for two specific purposes, allocating indirect costs for grant-funded organizations and nonprofits with endowments that need to allocate income and expenses to named funds.  Our first endowment client started using AccuFund in 2004 and they continue to use it successfully today. 

We have added a number of endowment organizations, both foundations and other nonprofits with endowments.  We decided that this should become a focused market for AccuFund.  We have an excellent solution for Foundations that includes

Cloud Computing is at the top of the list for almost all organizations looking for their next fund accounting and donor management and fundraising systems – and for good reason. Cloud computing is the most revolutionary technology development since application software (once only available for mainframe computers) became available for personal computers and landed on the desktops of end users.

There are several hugely compelling aspects to cloud computing – in many cases it comes with:

• a lower cost of ownership
• significantly faster implementation
• full feature sets
• hassle-free upgrades
• enhanced security, up time, and disaster recovery
• can be available anytime,