If your organization’s fiscal year is from January to December, this time of year may leave you feeling a wide range of emotions. You likely find yourself grateful for the generosity and support of your volunteers, board members, donors, and others who share your passion to make a difference! You may also feel a little overwhelmed with the responsibility of sending out giving statements by the end of January, closing out your fiscal year financials, and preparing for the Form 990 required for nonprofits. To make it a little easier and to help you not miss any details, we have created a year-end checklist of generally accepted accounting items. This list can help any type of business, but it is especially for nonprofits and churches.
Below are a few of the key topics you can find in the free year-end closing checklist for nonprofits and churches:
- Year-end audit procedures
- End-of-the-year transactions, like year-end payroll and year-end accounts payable
- Year-end tax forms, such as giving statements, Form 1099 for vendors, and W-4 forms for employees
Download the free Year-End Closing Checklist.
The other good news is that if you are using our fund accounting software, you can rest easy knowing how simple Aplos makes sending out giving statements. If you are thinking of switching to a simpler fund accounting software, now is the time to change! Sign up for a 15-day free trial of Aplos.
In addition to the checklist above, here are a few helpful hints for items you can start working on. I hope this list helps keep you organized and sane during this busy season.
- Make sure all contributions are entered and addresses are current.
- Decide what type of letter you want to send to those who have given to your organization. This is a great opportunity to let people know specifically how their contribution made a difference.
- Don’t forget to include other types of contributions.
- See what requirements your organization must meet on the federal, state, and local level.
- If you’re managing a nonprofit, start reading the instructions for the Form 990 now. You might need to research some topics or include information that takes some time to find and organize.
Those are just a few ideas to get you started. You may also enjoy our month-end accounting checklist. Our desire to support you goes beyond our software, so let us know if you need any help!
