Fundamentals of Financial Management 2014 - 2 Sessions

Good financial management is essential to a nonprofit's stability and sustainability.  These two sessions will give you the understanding and capability to produce financial statements.  Accurate and timely financial information is necessary for making informed decisions.  Organizations with strong financial management are better able to carry out their missions.

Do you love working in nonprofit organizations, but recognize that financial management is not your favorite activity?   Do you dread presenting budgets and financial statements to your board?  Is keeping up with federal and state reporting requirements keeping you up at night?  If you answered yes to any of these questions or just want to brush up on your financial management skills, this training is for you.

The two sessions will cover how to prepare and use financial statements, and how to identify and allocate expenses.   You will learn how to report financial information using straightforward examples and activities.  You will have an opportunity to work on your own financial statement or the statements of an organization you care about, as well as sample nonprofits.

Learning Objectives

Session I:   July 11, 2014
8:30 am - 12:00 pm

• Understand the financial reporting requirements for nonprofit organizations
• Hands-on practice with the preparation and use of financial statements

Session II: July 25, 2014
8:30 am - 12:00 pm

• Understand special issues and problems faced by small nonprofits with few employees, including reporting grants, donations and fees
• Know how to identify and allocate expenses to programs, fundraising and administration

After these two sessions, you will be able to:

• discuss your chart of accounts and understand how to use these accounts to organize your financial data
• report donations, grants, fees and other sources of revenue
• trace payroll and other expenses to your Statement of Activities (also known as the Income Statement), including identifying program, fundraising and genera/administrative expenses
• use your Statement of Position (also known as the Balance Sheet) to manage your financial resources
• take steps to protect your organization's cash and other physical assets even in a one or two person organization
• calculate and present simple ratios to your board and donors

Level

Introductory/intermediate

Audience

Managers and staff of small nonprofit organizations, especially those with limited knowledge of accounting.  The trainings will be particularly helpful to Executive Directors or others working with new nonprofits or nonprofits in transition.  The focus will be on organizations with less than $500,000 in assets and less than $200,000 in annual revenue.

Presenter

Leslie Oakes, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico where she teaches accounting.  Leslie has extensive experience working with nonprofit organization in both the United States and Canada, focusing on health, cultural and social services organizations.  She is also widely published in academic journals in North America, Europe and Australia.  Leslie is committed to assisting small to medium-sized nonprofits thrive in New Mexico and particularly enjoys working with those who find financial management challenging.