The world of non-profit accounting has become a balancing act of maintaining an organization’s mission on smaller budgets, increased regulatory scrutiny, and complex public and private funding sources. From small School Choice institutions to large public charities, we have developed expertise in many aspects of non-profit accounting, management consulting and auditing.
We provide a wide variety of services and serve a diverse array of clients within our non-profit organization service group, including:
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program schools
Labor unions
Religious organizations
Social service agencies
Conservation groups
Business improvement districts (BIDs)
Public service charities
Auditing
Our non-profit auditing services are led by partners Edward Brady and Daniel Lightfuss, who work on a broad range of non-profit organization audits, including charitable organizations, Milwaukee Parental Choice programs, and subsidized public housing audits under the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) programs. Recent government regulation on the non-profit auditing process have made it a challenge for auditors to provide cost-effective services to organizations of all sizes, but our extensive experience gives us a leg up on larger firms with much larger overhead and smaller firms without the diversity of our client base.
Our non-profit auditors also work with a number of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to provide auditing services required by government regulation. Similar to our work on traditional non-profit audits, our experience on BID audits gives our clients the highest level of service at a reasonable cost, and our direct knowledge of the specific requirements helps us provide value-added services as a part of our audit process.
Additionally, we work with a number of labor unions to provide accounting and auditing services to ensure the union effectively uses member dues for the continuing purpose of their union. We work with very small local unions as well as some larger public employee unions, where we have had long-term relationships because of our personal service and expertise.
Small Business Accounting
Many accountants focus on the auditing needs of non-profit organizations and forget that they are also small businesses with the same needs as any other small business. As a part of our small business services, we provide accounting software installation and training, business accounting and year-end tax reporting services to non-profit organizations.
Tax services
Non-profit and charitable organizations saw significant changes in federal and state tax reporting in 2008, and our tax department proactively addressed the law changes with our current clients to help them understand the new requirements. Partner Andrew Komisar heads up our tax department, including the experienced team in charge of non-profit tax reporting.
Accounting and Management Advisory Services
All of our partners are active in non-profit organizations where we see the importance of effective internal accounting systems and sound business practices. As a result, we work with a number of organizations designing accounting procedures, establishing internal controls and efficiently using administrative time to allow staff to spend as much time as possible serving their organization’s mission.
Accounting Software Consulting
As an additional component of our small business accounting services, we also have highly-trained staff who provide accounting software consulting services. This includes software installation, staff training, designing formal procedures and periodic telephone or on-site support. We have certified QuickBooks® advisors and several Peachtree Accounting® consultants on staff who expand the breadth of services we provide to many of our small business clients, including non-profit organizations.
We realize the financial challenges facing non-profit organizations and focus our non-profit auditing, accounting and management advisory services on helping our non-profit clients achieve their current goals while keeping focus on their long-term goals.
The world of non-profit accounting has become a balancing act of maintaining an organization’s mission on smaller budgets, increased regulatory scrutiny, and complex public and private funding sources. From small School Choice institutions to large public charities, we have developed expertise in many aspects of non-profit accounting, management consulting and auditing.
