Product Description

Get the financial tools you need to make sound business decisions for your nonprofit organization

Nonprofit managers, let this book show you how to become a better consumer of financial information. To get the most out of the information your bookkeepers and accountants provide, you need to understand and interpret it correctly. Written by Thomas McLaughlin, a nonprofit management expert, it cuts through technical jargon and complex mathematical contortions to give you the nuts and bolts of nonprofit financial management—as it happens in the real world. In a friendly, informal style, McLaughlin schools you in all the important terms and concepts, explains how to read and interpret financial reports, shows you how to analyze and control costs, provides practical tips for budgeting, and much more.

Clear, easy-to-follow explanations of financial management essentials, from balance sheets and cost analyses to budgeting and internal cost control

• More than 50 easy-to-read charts, tables, checklists, and instructive sidebars
• Lots of real-world examples based on the author's experience as a manager, consultant, and instructor
• Discussions centering around IRS Form 990—the government form which drives virtually all nonprofit accounting and financial reporting in the United States
• An IBM-compatible disk containing templates for financial reports, checklists, sample documents and other handy tools that you can copy, modify, and use

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #892903 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Publisher
Explains, in plain English, how to use financial information to effectively run nonprofit organizations. Concentrates on how to read, interpret and use financial data from bookkeepers and accountants to make management decisions that ensure the ongoing financial future of your organization. The book is organized into four distinct parts--analysis, accounting, operations and control--and features more than 50 easy-to-read charts, tables, checklists and instructive sidebars. Includes a diskette with handy financial templates to copy, modify and use.

From the Back Cover
Get the financial tools you need to make sound business decisions for your nonprofit organization

Nonprofit managers, let this book show you how to become a better consumer of financial information. To get the most out of the information your bookkeepers and accountants provide, you need to understand and interpret it correctly. Written by Thomas McLaughlin, a nonprofit management expert, it cuts through technical jargon and complex mathematical contortions to give you the nuts and bolts of nonprofit financial management--as it happens in the real world. In a friendly, informal style, McLaughlin schools you in all the important terms and concepts, explains how to read and interpret financial reports, shows you how to analyze and control costs, provides practical tips for budgeting, and much more.

Clear, easy-to-follow explanations of financial management essentials, from balance sheets and cost analyses to budgeting and internal cost control More than 50 easy-to-read charts, tables, checklists, and instructive sidebars Lots of real-world examples based on the author's experience as a manager, consultant, and instructor Discussions centering around IRS Form 990--the government form which drives virtually all nonprofit accounting and financial reporting in the United States An IBM-compatible disk containing templates for financial reports, checklists, sample documents and other handy tools that you can copy, modify, and use

About the Author
THOMAS A. McLAUGHLIN is a manager in the division of tax-exempt and governmental services of the accounting and consulting firm, BDO Seidman. Having served as director of several social service agencies, he has more than 20 years of nonprofit management experience. He is also an adjunct professor at the Boston University School of Social Work and the nonprofit columnist for the Boston Business Journal.

Customer Reviews

Excellent intro to accounting/finance for the novice.
As a new manager of a small/medium-sized nonprofit organization (20 staff), I needed to get up to speed quickly on accounting and finance principles, but didn't have time to take a course. This book was a great help. It's written in a conversation style, not in dry "accountant-speak," and gives the reader a good overview, with examples of all major accounting and finance concepts you are likely to run across. It even had a floppy disk with a variety of simple spreadsheets for you to learn from as you walked through each chapter. My only complaint was the spreadsheets on the disk are in an early form of Lotus 1-2-3, so those of us with Microsoft Excel have a hard time printing out these older documents cleanly (some of the formatting doesn't translate well).

Informative
The book is short, sweet and to the point. Sums things up in a basic manner and gives you the information from more of a point of experience rather than the same old textbook standard jargon.