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Bookkeeping for Nonprofits: A Step-by-Step Guide to Nonprofit Accounting
BOOKKEEPING FOR NONPROFITS Bookkeeping for Nonprofits is a hands-on guide that offers nonprofit leaders, managers, and staff the tools they need to create and maintain a complete and accurate set of accounting records. This much-needed resource provides those with little or no bookkeeping experience with practical advice in a highly accessible format. Written by Murray Dropkin and Jim Halpin, Bookkeeping for Nonprofits is a step-by-step introduction to keeping accounting records, which form the foundation for a nonprofit organization's financial reports, tax returns, budgets, cash forecasts, and grant proposals. Using this volume as a guide, nonprofit leaders and staff will be able to set up books with or without accounting software and ensure that the records meet the needs of their organization. Bookkeeping for Nonprofits is a comprehensive resource that Designed to be easy to use, the book is filled with illustrations and checklists. " Bookkeeping for Nonprofits is the remarkable new guide for a new generation of accounting challenges bookkeepers face every day."
—Frances Hesselbein, chairman and founding president, Leader to Leader Institute " Bookkeeping for Nonprofits provides a rare combination of consummate professionalism and clear, accessible writing. Underlying the wealth of technical information lies a great deal of wisdom. The authors have found a way to translate their enormous, on-the-ground experience into usable, actionable policies, procedures, and practices. It is a book that gives all you need to create a fiscally responsible agency with the bonus of helping you become a better manager and a wiser person."
—Peter Block, business consultant and author of Flawless Consulting and The Empowered Manager " Bookkeeping for Nonprofits provides an excellent understanding of the practical application of bookkeeping in the real work environment."
—Ron Werthman, vice president, finance/treasurer and CFO, Johns Hopkins Health System, The Johns Hopkins Hospital "This is a wonderful book that every bookkeeper in a nonprofit organization should have."
—Eusebio David, fiscal director, Federation of Multicultural Programs, Inc.
—Frances Hesselbein, chairman and founding president, Leader to Leader Institute " Bookkeeping for Nonprofits provides a rare combination of consummate professionalism and clear, accessible writing. Underlying the wealth of technical information lies a great deal of wisdom. The authors have found a way to translate their enormous, on-the-ground experience into usable, actionable policies, procedures, and practices. It is a book that gives all you need to create a fiscally responsible agency with the bonus of helping you become a better manager and a wiser person."
—Peter Block, business consultant and author of Flawless Consulting and The Empowered Manager " Bookkeeping for Nonprofits provides an excellent understanding of the practical application of bookkeeping in the real work environment."
—Ron Werthman, vice president, finance/treasurer and CFO, Johns Hopkins Health System, The Johns Hopkins Hospital "This is a wonderful book that every bookkeeper in a nonprofit organization should have."
—Eusebio David, fiscal director, Federation of Multicultural Programs, Inc.
- GenresNonfiction
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2005
9 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 25, 2015
finally making some headway into understanding ledgers.
p. 17
"by definition, a set of books is balanced when the sum of the total of all accounts equals zero. in order for this to be possible, some accounts will have a debit (positive) balance and others will have a credit (negative) balance. to make sense of the accounting equation when analyzing a ledger, you need to know which accounts normally have a debit balance and which accounts normally have a credit balance... net assets normally have a credit balance...revenues normally have a credit balance...expenses normally have a debit balance."
not intuitive! why would assets and net assets have opposite signs!
p. 18
p.26
fixed assets- "these assets are recorded at their acquisition costs, which include all skins spent: architect's fees, construction period interest, and title closing costs, among other expenditures." acquisition cost is equal to historical cost, but may be different from market value because of both market trends and the inclusion of transaction costs that can not be recaptured
accumulated depreciation is an asset? why?
normally has a credit balance. other assets are normally debit.
"the cost of a building is recorded as a fixed asset. Each period we record the depreciation expense (a debit) and the accumulated depreciation (a credit). at any point in time, we can compute the net book value of the building from these two accounts.
p. 17
"by definition, a set of books is balanced when the sum of the total of all accounts equals zero. in order for this to be possible, some accounts will have a debit (positive) balance and others will have a credit (negative) balance. to make sense of the accounting equation when analyzing a ledger, you need to know which accounts normally have a debit balance and which accounts normally have a credit balance... net assets normally have a credit balance...revenues normally have a credit balance...expenses normally have a debit balance."
not intuitive! why would assets and net assets have opposite signs!
p. 18
p.26
fixed assets- "these assets are recorded at their acquisition costs, which include all skins spent: architect's fees, construction period interest, and title closing costs, among other expenditures." acquisition cost is equal to historical cost, but may be different from market value because of both market trends and the inclusion of transaction costs that can not be recaptured
accumulated depreciation is an asset? why?
normally has a credit balance. other assets are normally debit.
"the cost of a building is recorded as a fixed asset. Each period we record the depreciation expense (a debit) and the accumulated depreciation (a credit). at any point in time, we can compute the net book value of the building from these two accounts.
August 16, 2011
This book provides an introduction to the arcane world of non-profit bookkeeping (well, any accounting subject is arcane!). Since I am not a professional accountant, I found the book to be very helpful, although most of the material was unfamiliar. But the authors do not assume any accounting knowledge by the reader and explain all the jargon and concepts. Most importantly, they explain why the principles and procedures are important. It doesn't replace the accountant because a lot of principles need to be applied to the reader's particular situation and one size doesn't fit all. But this book gets you started, and will allow you to speak intelligibly with your accountant, avoid egregious errors and maybe even save you money on CPA fees.
August 22, 2008
Too U.S.-Centric for my purposes, but clearly a useful basic NFP bookkeeping guide. Well laid out and organised.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews