Category

Audit

Mar 06
0

Cross-Training: It’s Vital to Your Nonprofit’s Success

By | Accounting, Audit, HR, Nonprofit | No Comments

Most nonprofit organizations take great care to safeguard vital databases. An emergency plan guides your team through major emergencies. But what would happen today if one of your team had a sudden emergency and had to take a month off from work? Accidents, sickness, and death are a part of life. No matter how you plan for a contingency, it can be difficult to fill someone’s role if others aren’t fully aware of what they do.

That’s where a cross-training plan comes into the picture. For-profit organizations have long insisted upon cross-training employees. This means that every employee has another employee fully briefed and trained in their job duties and responsibilities. There are many reasons why cross-training is important, and many benefits to both your employees and your nonprofit organization.

Benefits of Cross-Training

There are many reasons why cross-training is important to your organization.

  • Long-term absences: Health emergencies, pregnancy and parental leave, family emergencies, and other unforeseen circumstances may necessitate a key employee’s absence for weeks or months at a time. During this time, you’ll need coverage for their position. While you could certainly hire a temp, this is an expensive and ineffective solution. A temp still needs to be trained on the person’s tasks and responsibilities. Cross-training ensures that someone on the team knows exactly what needs to get done and when. Even if you do decide to hire a temp to cover the position long-term, a cross-trained staff member can in turn train the temp and the work can move forward without delay.
  • Busy periods: Certain months may be busier than others, and during those months, it’s helpful to have someone cross-trained to step in and assist. Membership dues may all be due in December or January, for example, and it’s helpful for the accounting department to have someone trained to enter the information and update the membership directory. Other departments may also experience similar cycles of ebb and flow to their work and can trade off staff as needed.
  • Continuity: Donors, members, and others trust an organization which demonstrates consistency and continuity. With cross-training, the work continues unabated. The organization demonstrates a commitment to service and support for their members, which goes a long way towards building trust.

Benefits to Employees

Employees benefit from cross-training too. Learning new skills adds interest to their day as well as valuable knowledge they can use to further their careers. Training for a supervisor’s position helps employees acquire the skills needed to step up in the organization. Lateral skills training, or training in skills related to an employee’s current position in the organization, can still broaden and expand the skills someone uses in their daily job.

When Cross-Training Isn’t Appropriate

There are some occasions when cross-training isn’t appropriate. Sensitive data and information, such as human resources materials, should be kept within the HR department, so cross-train only HR personnel for positions within the department.

Some employees aren’t interested in cross-training opportunities. Try not to force people to be trained for another job if they’re not interested in it. Those who succeed in cross-training activities are people who are highly motivated to learn, grow, and expand their horizons. These are people who want to remain with your organization and grow their careers in the nonprofit sector.

Cross-training has been used for many years in the for-profit sector to ensure continuity of work and productivity. Borrowing this idea from the for-profit arena and applying it to the nonprofit world makes good business sense.

Welter Consulting bridges people and technology together for effective solutions for nonprofit organizations. We offer software and services that can help you improve and grow your accounting practice. Please contact Welter Consulting at 206-605-3113 for more information.

Jan 16
0

Getting Your Staff Ready for the Annual Audit

By | Accounting, Audit, CPA, Nonprofit | No Comments

As the manager of a nonprofit organization, you’re probably all-too familiar with the paperwork aspect of the annual nonprofit audit. Documents must be managed, maintained, and updated, and everything prepared for the auditors.

There’s a second part of managing the audit process that’s equally as important: managing the people who are part of the audit. To help you with this aspect of auditing, we’ve put together the following tips.

Schedules

  • Make sure you schedule the audit well in advance of any deadlines. Be sure to set aside enough time for your staff so that they can be available to assist the auditors in any way necessary.
  • Contact the auditing firm and confirm that the dates for the audit are available. Auditors’ schedules may be booked months in advance. Be sure to confirm again the week prior to the scheduled audit to ensure nothing has slipped through the cracks.
  • When scheduling your audit, offer three days and times that work for all. Allow the auditors to choose the one that works best for them.
  • Clear calendars to make sure no offsite or other meetings will interfere with the audit schedule.

Logistics

  • Provide a clean, private, well-lit workspace for the auditors to use while they are at your company.
  • Create the necessary computer and WIFI access in advance so it is ready for the auditors immediately.
  • Ensure that a telephone line is also available for the auditors.
  • If parking spaces are reserved at your building, make sure you take the necessary steps to secure parking spots for the auditors.
  • Provide them with directions on how to get to your building.

Communications

  • Inform the internal staff that an audit is taking place. Reassure them that it is both a necessary and beneficial aspect of nonprofit management – it’s not like a personal IRS audit, but more of a consultation to ensure that your nonprofit is operating correctly.
  • Make sure that staff understands they can’t use conference rooms or other workspaces that the auditors are using during the week.
  • Ask staff not to interrupt the auditors while they are working.

Following Up on the Audit

Once the audit is over, it will take your firm several weeks to prepare the materials and provide them to you. Take time to review them and discuss the findings with the auditors. The final report can then be presented to your Board of Directors.

As a final step, share the audit with your entire team. Although not required as part of a nonprofit audit, the more information that you can share with your staff, the better they will understand what’s going on within the organization as a whole. They’ll feel invested in the outcomes and better informed about the financial aspects of the organization. The more information they have, the better they can do their jobs.

Preparing for an audit can be stressful, but if you’re organized and take the appropriate steps, you can ensure that the entire audit process from start to finish goes smoothly. Both your auditors and your Board will thank you for the extra effort made to ensure a streamlined process.

Welter Consulting offers auditing as one of our core services for nonprofits. Our experience encompasses audits, consulting, software selection and more for the nonprofit industry. Please contact Welter Consulting at 206-605-3113 for an appointment.