November 16, 2000 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Unified Financial Reporting System for Not-for-Profit Organizations: A Comprehensive Guide to Unifying GAAP, IRS Form 990, and Other Financial Reports Using a Unified Chart of Accounts
by Russy D. Sumariwalla and Wilson C. Levis
With the right tools, nonprofit organizations can improve the quality of their financial reporting and cut the amount of time it takes to prepare the reports–gaining more time to focus on “the business of fulfilling mission, developing essential programs, and serving communities,” say the authors of this guide.
The manual was written by Russy D. Sumariwalla, former C.E.O. of United Way International, and Wilson C. Levis, manager of Baruch College’s Nonprofit Management Group. They say they hope that a byproduct of improving the quality of the information that charities report to the Internal Revenue Service, state charity regulators, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and others will be greater public trust in the nonprofit world.
Mr. Sumariwalla and Mr. Levis propose using a “unified chart of accounts” to establish reliable and uniform financial reporting by different types of charities. From this chart, they explain, nonprofit organizations would be able to develop a single “functionalized trial balance report,” which they could use to easily produce the standard financial reports routinely asked of them.
The guide includes suggestions on software choice and development, a bibliography of accounting and financial standards, a list of general accounting guides that the authors recommend, and a variety of figures and worksheets that organizations can customize for use in preparing their financial statements.
This handbook is a project of the 990 Nonprofit Accountability Collaborative, which seeks to help charities do a better job of reporting their finances and accomplishments to the public.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94104; (415) 433-1740 or (888) 378-2537; fax (415) 956-3158 or (800) 605-2665; http://www.josseybass.com; 355 pages; $32.95 plus $6.50 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 0-7879-5213-3.
