We recently sponsored a special report in the February 2012 issue of Accounting Today.  The article, “Challenges and Opportunities with Nonprofits,” talks about the unique scenarios each nonprofit segment encounters and the skills and expertise required of the CPA firms with which they work.

For instance, health care providers face different challenges than educational institutions, social services organizations, religious organizations, and public sector entities.

Some of these challenges may be obvious, but if you’re a CPA firm looking to enter the nonprofit & public sector niche, check out the article.

Challenges:

• Managing capital spending on facilities & equipment
• Nonprofit accounting that facilitates third-party reimbursements
• Endowment and investment tracking
• Audit compliance requirements for state and federal funding
• Transparency and reporting to boards and donors

We’re happy to share some news from Carla Feagan, our Channel Sales Manager based in Edmonton, Canada.  Carla’s daughter was asked to sing the Canadian national anthem at an anti-bullying event held at Rexall Place in Edmonton last week.  Carla’s daughter did a great job!   About a quarter of the arena was filled with screaming school kids ranging from 3rd to 7th grade.  Local TV stations covered the event and despite this being  the first time she has ever sang in front of more than 15-20 people, and having a camera in front of her, she never missed a beat, or note!

The event, hosted by the Edmonton Rush Lacrosse Club, was called “Rise Up Against Bullying” and promoted by 92.5 JOE FM.  It was designed to, “engage youth with an interactive and exciting approach to bullying prevention … Empowering them with the important facts and knowledge that they can use moving forward towards their peers.”

Listen and watch for yourself (singing begins about 1:28):

Congrats to Carla and her daughter. We see a budding recording star in the future, as well as a possible performance from Carla herself, assuming it’s in the blood!

We’ve teamed with Zap to create an integrated nonprofit business intelligence (BI) solution.  There are a number of benefits that this partnership brings to nonprofits.

Our solution, Serenic Navigator, provides a wealth of financial data. BI software helps organizations automate reporting, alerts, report scheduling, and what-if analysis.  Together, you can apply advanced analytics to uncover valuable new insights, make better decisions, and empower your mission.  You can move beyond reports that only tell you WHAT happened, to ask WHY. Set goals, make them visible, and easily identify changes in performance.

This is possible because we’ve enhanced Zap’s existing BI solution to include a nonprofit financial management cube.  The cube includes a set of pre-packaged analytics specific to the nonprofit sector, including reports, dashboards, KPIs, and scorecards. With Serenic and Zap you can:

• Automate reporting workflows and save time and money spent on manual reporting.
• Analyze your business from any angle, including unlimited multi-dimensional analysis and cross ledger analysis.
• Make performance information pervasive with user-friendly dashboards, scorecards, and key performance indicators. Drill through any analytic to find the reasons behind changes in performance.
• Create a single, organization-wide analytics portal by extending the solution to non-Navigator data sources.

Turn financial transactions into valuable insight!

We’re happy to share how Serenic Navigator helped solve APA’s need for integrated nonprofit financial and supply chain management software.

The American Psychological Association (APA) has over 150,000 members and over 500 employees with executive and administrative offices, a publishing operation, five substantive directorates, 54 divisions, a 501(c)(6) companion organization and two real estate LLCs.

The APA was looking for a financial management software solution for a nonprofit association and supply chain management for their publications division. Some of the goals of the accounting system included:

• real-time financial reporting capabilities
• improved workflow
• automated integrations between systems

AVF Consulting presented Serenic Navigator, our fund accounting software built on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform.

“Serenic provides us with the ability to integrate our financials and supply chain management for a single, centralized, up-to-date customer ledger and accounts receivable,” says Jerry McGlaughlin, Senior Director of IT Planning and Business Management for the APA . “We anticipate significant workflow efficiencies, better access to data, and improved inventory management.”

Thank you to AVF Consulting for bringing this latest client aboard and implementing our software.

Evaluate your existing financial solutions with these questions:

1. The USCCB recommended the use of the FASB standard financial presentation. Does your current system facilitate this type of reporting?

2. Catholic schools are being challenged by increased operational costs and an economy in which families are opting to send their children to public schools because of the cost. Have you reviewed the administrative operations of schools and parishes to find potential economies of scale by centralizing functions such as payroll processing?

3. Would centralizing each organization’s fundraising activities and/or providing more detailed information on how funds are managed /spent assist in securing larger contributions from parishioners? Do you have such a centralized system in place?

This concludes our series about how Serenic can save time on financial and accounting tasks for diocese, and help you focus on your core mission.

Access the “Achieving Financial Transparency for Dioceses” FREE whitepaper.

Last week, we took a look at some of the benefits of installing one integrated financial management system across a diocese’s central office, its parishes, and schools. This week, we’re looking at a few more of the benefits that can help increase overall operational efficiency.

Thanks for learning more about how Serenic can save time on financial and accounting tasks, and help you focus on your core mission.

Access the “Achieving Financial Transparency for Dioceses” FREE whitepaper.

Benefits for Dioceses

The right financial management system should support and enhance the unique workflow processes of dioceses to help increase operational efficiency, manage cash flow and investments, and generate detailed financial reports. With one system installed across a diocese’s central offices, its parishes and schools, it can expect to realize these benefits:

Check back next week as we discuss more of the benefits for Dioceses.

Access the “Achieving Financial Transparency for Dioceses” FREE whitepaper.

Financial controls are actually a subset of internal controls and typically refer to segregation of duties. The right financial controls ensure that the person entering invoices to be paid, for example, is not also able to mark the checks for payment or cut the checks without someone else’s involvement in the process. It is important that such processes are in place throughout a diocese, however, this becomes challenging in smaller parishes where there is only a part-time bookkeeper using a manual or moderately automated system. The financial controls need to be documented and monitored, especially if using a manual method. A computerized application through which these “duties” can be limited and the controls enforced with the system security, therefore, is an ideal solution. Dioceses might examine the economies of scale created by centralizing processes and – if possible – provide access for smaller parishes to computerized solutions that they may not be able to afford on their own.

Faced with the ultimate responsibility of the entire diocese, such a financial control system needs to possess certain attributes to ensure fiscal needs are met. Requirements for an enterprise-wide solution include:

• Effective and efficient processes – System should eliminate duplicate entry; automate manual processes; provide economies of scale; provide services from within the diocese finance department to all areas of the diocese (e.g., payroll). Investment is best in an application that can be rolled out and phased in over time to provide a costeffective solution with economies of scale. A vertically focused solution embedded within a leading mid-market application platform adds tremendous value, because it is
designed to be scalable to serve diverse needs while providing a set of industry-specific functionality (e.g. chart of accounts structure and adherence to key financial reporting standards).

• Reliable financial statements and accounting records – Software should provide a strong audit trail and reporting tools that enable easy ad-hoc as well as management-style report generation.

• Safeguard assets – A solution should provide the tools to manage investments and revolving loan funds as well as physical (fixed) assets; offer an audit trail and the ability to enforce financial controls.

• Adherence to management policy and procedures – System should, again, provide an audit trail and financial controls, as well as automated workflow and business rules to help prove that mandated procedures are being followed.

Check back next week as we discuss some of the benefits for Dioceses.

Access the “Achieving Financial Transparency for Dioceses” FREE whitepaper.

We’re excited to announce the expansion of our Serenic Navigator Online (NOL) product suite, which is now available in three offerings:

• Serenic NOL Basic
• Serenic NOL BE (Business Essentials)
• Serenic NOL AM (Advanced Management)

Serenic NOL is a Software as a Service (SaaS) version of our award-winning Navigator financial management system. The cloud-based subscription model leverages Internet streaming functionality with access to Serenic’s financial management software for the term of the subscription. The Serenic NOL product features are designed to meet specific needs of nonprofit and public sector organizations, which are increasingly connecting to the Internet to automate and simplify business processes “in the cloud.”

“Serenic Navigator Online offers NGOs and nonprofits financial management functionality coupled with the advantages of a decentralized software deployment model,” according to our CEO and President Randy Keith. “Organizations with multiple offices, remote workers and distributed workforces especially benefit from using a cloud-based solution. If their situation changes for any reason, NOL clients can easily and cost-effectively transition to the on-premise version of the Serenic Navigator financial management suite.”

NGOs and nonprofit organizations can download the Serenic Navigator Online Success Kit or informative white paper for more information.

Over the past few years especially, reports of financial scandals within the Catholic Church have flooded the media and prompted
new recommendations from church governing bodies. A widely publicized 2006 survey by researchers at Villanova University found
that 85 percent of Roman Catholic dioceses that responded had discovered embezzlement of church money in the last five years, with
11 percent reporting that more than $500,000 had been stolen.

The USCCB Accounting Practices Committee (APC) concluded that “the vast majority of the aforementioned frauds appear to be occurring at the parish level. At the APC meeting in January 2007, this topic was thoroughly studied and several recommendations were made to enhance the financial governance in the 19,000+ parishes.”  The group’s Accounting Report recommended the use of
the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standard financial presentation.

Previously in 1995, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) created the Diocesan Internal Controls, making the Bishop
effectively responsible for the entire diocese. The forward stated that “all administrators are to perform their duties with the diligence of a good householder. The bishop can delegate the authority but not the responsibility. He has the duty to ensure that no abuses exist in the administration of church goods within the diocese.”

The Villanova study suggested that whether an organization is a Fortune 500 company or a diocese, the objectives of the internal control structure remain the same (2):
1. Provide reliable financial statements and accounting records
2. Safeguard the entity’s assets
3. Promote operational efficiency and effectiveness
4. Promote adherence to the mission of the Church or organization

Check back next week as we discuss the requirements of a financial management system.

Access the “Achieving Financial Transparency for Dioceses” FREE whitepaper.