How nonprofits can benefit from QuickBooks

By Jessica Salerno, OSCPA senior content manager

Chances are you’re familiar with QuickBooks, but understanding the software doesn't mean you’re equipped to use it in all industries.

“Using QuickBooks to provide financial reporting for nonprofits is a technique and skill that isn’t necessarily something you know going in,” said Cindy Gill, CPA, team leader at BudgetEase. “Even if you know how to use QuickBooks for a regular business, reporting for nonprofits is a different animal.”

Gill and her colleague Kathy Dise will discuss using the software for nonprofits June 20 at OSCPA’s Columbus Not-for-Profit Conference. Gill said the session will “make attendees’ jobs easier,” as they will learn how to configure QuickBooks and save time, without manipulating data in a separate file.

Working with donors, special events and grants are just a couple of the differences you’ll encounter when working with nonprofits, Gill said. It’s important to remember the results you need to avoid downloading data into a separate file and creating more work for yourself.

“We handle lots of different situations, which means we have a lot of different nonprofits and it depends on what the industry is,” Gill said. “Like for performing arts, you might want to be tracking the results for performance or for show. For social services you might want to be able to generate reports by program or grant.”

Whether a donor is individual, company or foundation and depending on what the donation is meant for is also something a typical company might not have to worry about, Gill said. She pointed out that many of the documents are called different names.

“You don’t have a profit and loss, per se, you have something called ‘statement of activity,’ she said. “You don’t really have a balance sheet, you have something called ‘statement of financial position.’ And translating that stuff into the QuickBooks file and configuring the QuickBooks file to let you generate those reports for the restricted aspects of the company versus the unrestricted, that’s a big thing.”

Learn more and register!