bullet1 Accounting and Control

This is about tracking material resources over time.

Good data here means good data for all other financial activities.

bullet2 Contol/cost relationship

Having more control over costs actually costs more, but having no control is very expensive in other ways.  Find the balance.

bullet2 Funds

These come in many varieties:


Incoming can be:

unrestricted: money that can be used for anything

temporarily restricted: there are some stipulations on how the money can be used, and those restrictions expire at some point

permanently restricted: the money can only be used for specific things


Outgoing can be in different fund groupings:

general: for everyday operations or whatever you need it for

special funds: for some specific purpose

special reserve funds: collected over time to defray the costs of emergencies or cuts

bullet2 PaperTrail

Each transaction leaves a paper trail.  

If you can't trace it through the organization, there is a problem with control over resources (and funders don't like that at all).

If the system for processing transactions is good, and people use it consistently and well, then the organization will have good information to use for all matters that require financial data.

bullet2 Cash vs. accrual methods

The cash method tells about the actual in and out flow of money over a span of time.  The accrual method also includes things like depreciation, long-term use resources, and other financial factors that are not necessarily reflected in the cash statements from year to year.  It takes some combination of both kinds of statements (along with lots of other information) to get a good picture of an organization's financial health.

bullet2 Accounting cycle

The cycle includes both keeping track and summarizing functions.  Financial statements are only as good as the information that went into them.

bullet2 Audits

Organizations often do both internal and external audits for lots of reasons.  External auditors prepare reports for the organization and the public, and their summary letter to the management is where the next audit will start.