Working with Nonprofit Boards
Richlak, Lawyer & Co. reviewed the IRS Form 990 for a board member on the finance committee of a nonprofit organization.
The organization had almost 1 million dollars in assets. While reviewing its previous year’s Form 990, we found multiple issues. Our first concern was that they had replied “No” to several lines in Section IV “Governance, Management and Disclosure.” “No” responses in that section could trigger an IRS audit, but even without an audit, a “No” implies the lack of good internal controls. Potential large donors are often savvy enough to look up 990s, which are publicly available on the Internet. Donors might hesitate before giving money to an organization that is perceived to be inefficiently managed. We also found problems with certain schedules that were incomplete. This organization is on QuickBooks for Nonprofit so all of their accounting information is readily accessible for correcting these problems.
Nonprofit board members have accounting concerns unique to their organizations and have a fiduciary duty to protect the assets of the organization. We were pleased not only to reduce their risk of an audit, but also to improve its attractiveness to new donors.
