The experienced professionals in our Client Services Department are committed to solving accounting challenges.  Below you will find several success stories detailing how we were able to help our clients.

Case Study 1: Building an Accounting System

Problem: 
A $5M trade association was using its landlord’s accounting department as a shared administrative service.  When a new Executive Director took over, he found that his operation was always a low priority to the landlord’s accounting department, even though he was paying for their services.  He could not get timely financial reports or answers to his questions, and was tied to an inflexible system and reporting structure dictated by a much larger organization.  He decided that the organization needed to do its own accounting. 

Action:
We set up an accounting system and procedures scaled to an organization of its size.  We worked with the staff to configure it in a way that gave them the reports they needed in a format that made sense.  Next, we trained an existing administrative staffer to process the day-to-day transactions and began monthly on-site visits to close the books and produce reports.

Results:
The Executive Director now gets reliable monthly financial statements in a matter of days with far less hassle.  He now has most answers at his fingertips and no longer has to worry about when he will get the rest of the information he needs to run the association.

Case Study 2: Record Cleanup and Audit Preparation

Problem: 
A nonprofit environmental education organization contacted us nine months after its fiscal year-end because they were unable to complete their audit.  They had just fired their accountant and suspected that the records were inaccurate and incomplete.  In fact, we discovered that no filing had been done for most of the year, bank reconciliations were ten months behind, many transactions had not been entered, and expenses had not been properly allocated to their grants in 18 months.  Additionally, the Executive Director had not received a financial report in over six months.  Their auditors had already come to their office, given up, and left.  Billing on their grants was falling behind and, as a result, they were experiencing serious cash flow problems.

Action:
We immediately helped the client prioritize the problems and discussed how we could best help within their limited budget.  Next, we trained their support staff to help with the clean up.   Meanwhile, we caught up the records for the year under audit and assisted them in hiring a capable staff accountant to pick up the current year accounting with a clean starting point.  Then, we monitored their progress and helped set their agenda.

Results:
The audits of both years have been completed and the accountant we helped them hire has been successful.  Keeping the accounting records clean has improved cash flow by allowing faster billings on grants and better collections of receivables.  For the first time in years, the Executive Director is getting regular and meaningful financial reports.  We still consult with them for a few hours every month or so to make sure they are still on track.