Article Advise

submitted: Aug 19th 2008 | by: NancyChurch | Total views: 1 | Word Count: 539 | |

Many of us work with visionaries. You know the type of person I mean: he has a great idea for increasing environmental awareness, she wants to build a treatment center for adolescent boys newly diagnosed with severe behavioral disabilities. Nothing will dissuade them from realizing their dreams. They are focused, charismatic, determined, and persuasive.

It may appear that accounting is an insignificant activity for them. Yet there are founding executives who know that the support provided by good accounting and financial reporting is essential support for them in realizing their vision. I?ve been lucky to work with a few executive directors like this. What characterizes strong working relationships? Here are some markers of good cooperation between program-oriented leaders and nonprofit finance managers.

The founding visionary has an appreciation for systems. She understands and supports you in getting good internal controls in place and in testing them periodically. He realizes that capturing complete information about transactions as soon as they occur helps make everyone more efficient, since they spend less time chasing down missing information or correcting transactions that were entered into the accounting system incorrectly.

The visionary founder understands that reliable reports are built on lots of data and supports your efforts to catch errors early in the process. All entries - accounts payable and accounts receivable, as well as general and adjusting journal - are proofed and corrected before they are entered into the accounting system.

The visionary - aka executive director - includes you in the management team, understanding that when you're clued in about program progress, new strategies, grant applications, and plans for the future, your ability to serve the organization is greatly enhanced.

The visionary nonprofit executive director cares about accurate reporting to grantors or contract-funders and supports you in spending the time it takes to design systems that will capture transactions at the grant level. Such leaders will also support you in getting the training or consulting help you'll need for yourself or your staff. And they are interested in increasing their understanding of the monthly reports you prepare

The culture at most not-for-profits I've worked with tends to be reactive (as opposed to proactive), and that usually increases the stress level at work. Accountants are in a position to begin to move things toward the proactive, thereby creating a healthier work environment, as they set up systems and stick to them. For example, institute a policy of cutting checks one day a week, and then deny requests to provide them on any other day. Or you can refuse employee requests for reimbursement for mileage if they are submitted after a reasonable deadline - say, a week after the end of the month. Executive directors who are willing to support you in spite of employee grumbling are real gems.

If you work for someone like this, be grateful. If your working relationship isn't quite this rosy, you can try to improve it. Try suggesting that you be included in meetings. Suggest one-on-ones with the visionary where you can demonstrate what "the numbers" tell you about the organization's health and success. Learn how to graph in Excel to convey your message in a new way. With patience and a willingness to experiment, you may just create your own dream job.

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Find out more about creating your dream job in non profit accounting. Get Nancy Church's suggestions on stopping fraud in not-for-profit accounting and stay in the know - sign up for her newsletter.

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