Not-for-Profit Accounting Made Easy

Product Review

A hands-on guide to the ins and outs of nonprofit accounting

Not-for-Profit Accounting Made Easy, Second Edition equips you with the tools you need to run the financial and accounting operations within your nonprofit organization. Even if you do not have a professional understanding of accounting principles and financial reporting, this handy guide makes it all clear with complex accounting rules explained in terms nonaccountants can easily understand in order to help you better fulfill your managerial and fiduciary duties. Always practical and never overtechnical, this helpful guide conforms to FASB and AICPA standards and:
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Discusses federal single audit and its impact on nonprofits
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Offers examples of various types of split-interest agreements
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Shows you how to read and understand a nonprofit financial statement
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Explains financial accounting and reporting standards
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Helps you become conversant in the rules and principles of accounting
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Updates board members, executive directors, and other senior managers on the accounting basics they should know for day-to-day operations
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Features tables, exhibits, and charts that illustrate the content in a simple and easy-to-understand manner

Suitable for fundraising managers and executives--as well as anyone who needs to read and understand a nonprofit financial statement--this is the ultimate not-an-accountant's guide to nonprofit accounting.

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(12 customer reviews)

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful

Very good, but not quite "easy", September 21, 2002

Brian D. Mcmahon (Scotts Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not-for-Profit Accounting Made Easy (Hardcover)

This book is exactly what I (as a newly-minted board member) needed to help me figure out some of the oddities and kinks in nonprofit financial reports. Information is presented clearly and logically.Only two little problems kept me from awarding five stars.1. If you have no accounting background at all, you may find it difficult to make sense of some parts of the book. At several points, a general familiarity with accounting concepts and terms is assumed. I had taken an introductory accounting class a few years ago at a community college, and with that background, had no trouble at all with the book. I suspect that if I'd read this book before taking that class, I would have given up in hopeless confusion after the first chapter. Be warned.2. The book contains examples of financial reports. That's good. Unfortunately, it shows all the dollar amounts as "$XXXX.XX" or similar. That's bad. It would have been much better to construct an example with actual...Read more

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful

Accounting Made Difficult, September 26, 2003

Carlos Garcia (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Not-for-Profit Accounting Made Easy (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a straightforward, easy-to-read explanation of not-for-profit accounting, keep looking. I ordered this book recently and while the first chapter provides some useful defintions, the rest of the book is mind-numbing. In fact, I gave up after chapter 3. If you have to re-read paragraphs two and three times to understand what the author is trying to say, then it's not "accounting made easy." In addition, the examples of financial statements only offer "XXX" rather than actual numbers. Samples with actual numbers would have been much more useful.Charity Channel (www.charitychannel.com) also gave this book a negative review. There are better guides out there.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

Better than college textbooks, March 20, 2006

K. Thompson (Ventura, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not-for-Profit Accounting Made Easy (Hardcover)

The author wrote this book assuming that non-financial people need to understand accounting, making this easy to read and understandable. Having gone through a college course on accounting, and being forced to use three other books (which were also worthless), I only wished I read this book first. Although it's designed for not-for-profit organizations, it explains the differences with for-profit organizations, and explains why certain things can be done, or can't be done. For anyone who is starting fresh, starting a new company, or planning on taking accounting in college, I would strongly recommend you invest $30 (my accounting textbook was over $100) and the first chapter alone, summarizes the the first 10 chapters of several college textbooks.