Services

I offer bookkeeping and accounting support to nonprofits, from those just starting out to those with multi-million dollar budgets and complex funding and programs. I work remotely from Seattle, but if you’re local I’m happy to come to the occasional in-person meeting. Depending on your organization’s size and needs, accounting services can look like:

• Monthly data entry into your accounting system, or me training your staff on data entry and periodically reviewing their work.
• Monthly reconciliation of your bank and/or credit card accounts, and periodic review of other accounts for irregularities.
• Periodic adjustments, like applying cost allocations across programs and supporting services, expense allocations across related entities or fiscal sponsorship arrangements, grant spend tracking, and adjustments for accrual clients to adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
• Customized, easy to read financial reports for staff, boards, and/or grantors.
• Grant or contract tracking to monitor grant funds spent, or to generate invoices for reimbursement-based grants.
• Support for your audit or review, from making sure your books and processes are audit-ready to helping you prepare supporting schedules and answer questions during the audit.
• Annual 1099 filing.
• Monthly meetings to answer your questions and work through anything that might come up.

I love sharing information, and using my skills and experience to help you build or improve systems and navigate growth and new challenges. Some of my favorite kinds of consulting projects are:

• Accounting system design—from the ground up or overhauling a system that isn’t working for you anymore. This can include ensuring you’re getting the best use out of QuickBooks’ many features, optimizing your chart of accounts and class list, and taking a look at what processes in your organization are manual or taking a lot of time and looking for ways to increase efficiency.
• Developing internal controls and accounting manuals—while this can be harder to do in small organizations, it’s possible! Solid internal controls can reduce the risk for error and fraud, and a comprehensive accounting manual documenting your organization’s policies and procedures helps keep everyone on the same page. Your auditor will like it, too.
• Fiscal sponsorships—I can work with you and your legal team to establish the agreements, structures, and workflow needed for a successful sponsee relationship.
• Budgeting—this can span consulting on your budgeting process, especially with a focus on how to make it more collaborative and equitable, to the tools you use to create a budget that is easy to read, use, and update. In collaboration with RVC Seattle, I developed a free Google Sheets nonprofit budgeting extension and template, but as a spreadsheet wizard^TM I can also help you clean up your existing budget spreadsheets to enhance their functionality and make them less prone to user error.
• Reporting—because of my background in graphic design, I can design reports and dashboards that pull out the most important information and are easy to read, especially for those without a finance background.
• Payroll—I can help you choose a third-party payroll provider, set up for employment, and consult on how to deal with tax notices and filings and other common payroll complications.
• QuickBooks Desktop to Online Conversions—If you currently use QuickBooks Desktop and want to switch to QuickBooks Online, I can clean up your Desktop data, set up your QuickBooks Online account and convert the data, then provide training if needed on how to use QuickBooks Online.

Staying current on your annual IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ is an important piece of nonprofit compliance. It’s also an opportunity to tell your organization’s story to grantors and donors who use the 990 for funding decisions.

My world is your oyster! I’ve done both individual and group trainings on the following topics, and I may offer public trainings in the future.

• All About QuickBooks Online—from the basics, to the fundamental skills you need for your organization’s bookkeeping, and all the advanced tricks to make sure you’re getting the most out of it for grant tracking, revenue recognition, expense allocation, and more.
• Bookkeeping and Accounting Fundamentals—I don’t think you need to know accounting to be a good bookkeeper, but I think a solid understanding of the basics will make it all make more sense, and help you become more confident in your job. Come along with me on a journey that is not boring (I promise!).
• How to Read Financial Statements—they don’t have to be a mystery. This training can be geared towards staff, boards of directors, or your community members.
• How to Read a 990—the 990 is a dense document, and not very user-friendly. This training focuses on explaining the different sections of the 990, including common schedules, and what to look for as you read or review a 990. This training is good for boards of directors new to the 990, or the staff who will be helping prepare them.
• How to Pay Non-Employees: All About W-9s and 1099s—this training explains all the rules and nuance around who will be issued a 1099 at the end of the year, and how timely W-9 collection facilitates that process. This training is helpful for staff with financial duties as well as program staff who may be liaisons with vendors or contractors.