IRS Releases Revised Form 990 for '05 Filers
Just in time for tax season, the IRS has revised Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which will impact nonprofits filing for 2005. The revisions include fairly significant changes to Form 990, Schedule A and the Instructions (Form 990 grew from six to eight pages).
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Joint Cost Allocation: When It Doesn't Fit Neatly
So, what about costs that don’t fit neatly into a functional category — or that span several? Nonprofits often conduct activities that simultaneously serve more than one organizational objective, especially in the area of fundraising.
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The Basics of Functional Expense Allocation
A place for everything and everything in its place.When it comes to your organization’s finances, the IRS certainly likes to see everything in its place. To that end, it provides specific guidance on how nonprofits should categorize expenses.
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Internal Fraud: Why It Happens (And How To Stop It)
In the last issue of Nonprofit Insights, we looked at some fraudulent activities (intentional or unintentional) committed by nonprofits. In this issue, we’ll look at some common types of fraud perpetrated against nonprofits.
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Record Retention: Know What To Hold, When To Fold
A firestorm erupted this past June when it was reported that the ACLU had improperly shredded documents. The controversy eventually resulted in the resignation of the ACLU’s chief archivist.
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Is Your Organization Ready For An Endowment?
With funding shrinking and demand for services growing, nonprofits are under new pressure to find new income sources. As a result, many are looking at endowments.
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“D” Is For Disaster Plan
In a year of hurricanes, flooding and natural disasters, now might be a good time to review your organization’s disaster recovery plan. A good plan prioritizes what is vital to protect, what is important to protect and what is useful to protect.
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How Nonprofits Get In Trouble
When it comes to fraud at a nonprofit, most of us tend to think in terms of fraud committed against the organization (purchasing and disbursement schemes, cash receipt and accounts receivable scams, etc.).
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Sleeper Legislative Issue: Board Compensation
The Senate Finance Committee is readying legislation that will, if enacted, impose a battery of new rules and penalties on charities, other tax-exempt organizations and those who assist them. The buzzwords underlying and guiding this legislative frenzy are: accountability, transparency and governance.
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“Help, We Need An Audit (Or Do We?)”
It’s an all-too-common situation at nonprofits: Your new executive director doesn’t like the accounting software his predecessor used and wants to “check the books” before converting to a new system. Or maybe it’s a potential major donor who wants assurance that your finances are in order before making a gift.
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Are You Ripe for the Picking? Strong Internal Controls Can Help
When it comes to fraud perpetrated against an organization, many nonprofits are ripe for the picking. Fraud seems to occur most frequently at midsize or small charities, where adequate financial controls are often non-existent.
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Are You In Compliance? Review Your Retirement Plan Now To Avoid Problems Later
Here’s some heartening news: Employees at nonprofits are more likely to have pensions than their for-profit counterparts. Now, here’s the sobering news: These employee benefit plans can be extremely complicated, and maintaining compliance can be a challenge. Noncompliance can result in hefty fines and, in extreme cases, disqualification.
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New Substantiation Rules Required for Contributions of Intellectual Property
One of the last pre-election acts by the 108th Congress was completion of its work on the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-357). The President signed the measure into law on October 22. The Act contains several provisions directly pertaining to the law of tax-exempt organizations and charitable giving.
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Best Practices Under Sarbanes-Oxley: Lessons Nonprofits Can Learn
While the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 applies only to publicly traded companies, it does set a standard of internal controls that all companies — including non-profits.
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Form 990 Letter: Not All IRS Letters Are Cause For Alarm
For most of us, a letter from the Internal Revenue Service can be a little alarming. But many nonprofits have been receiving correspondence from the IRS recently that is decidedly non-threatening.
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Jerry Gaither, Director of Public Sector Services at 972.448.6918.