Jun 05
0

You Can Never Be Too Careful: Improving Computer Security

By | Accounting, CPA, Data, HR, MIP Fund Accounting, Nonprofit | No Comments

Cyber threats are on the rise worldwide. The costs of a data breach are staggering with the average cost to repair such breaches at $4 million. And if you think your nonprofit organization is too small to be affected by cybercrimes, data breaches, viruses, and ransomware think again: many of the worst threats are to individuals and small businesses and that includes small nonprofit organizations.

One of the areas most vulnerable to external cyber threats is communications. Contact forms on websites, emails, chats, images – all provide a window into your systems through which cyber criminals can enter to wreak havoc. Here’s how you can improve the security of your overall system with an eye towards shoring up the defenses of your communications network.

Questions to Ask – and Answer

The first step to solving any problem is to understand the full scope of the problem itself. To do this, you will need to evaluate all of the possible threats against your organization. Review security and access points including who has access to your systems, website, email server, social media accounts and any external software you may use such as cloud-based storage, file sharing, and other systems.

  • Do you have a written process for granting access and revoking privileges? A written process with a designated administrator controls access to key services and systems. You can detail who can access which systems and what to do when someone’s employment is terminated or they leave voluntarily.
  • Do you have a master list of all of your software and systems? Create a list of all of the software and systems, as well as administrators and contact people in your organization, for all of the software you use.
  • Do you have a process in place for updating your software? Those annoying popups prompting you to update your systems aren’t just for show. Software updates close gaps in the system that programmers find after the initial software releases. These “patches” are often important coding changes that defend against known threats. Regular updates of all of your software and operating systems are
  • Do you have virus protection in place? A virus protection program can screen websites to ensure they are safe and check inbound emails and attachments. Other types of virus programs scan your hard drive for malware, harmless but annoying programs, and other code that gets injected into your computer without your knowledge. It’s smart to have two packages rather than just one; two can often catch more than one.
  • Do you back up your systems regularly? In the event of a cyber attack, having backups ready to restore your systems is vital. Automatic backups can be installed or you can store some of your non-confidential files on a cloud server to keep copies safe.

Communications Security Tips

In addition to these questions and answers, consider a few other security measures to put into place.

  • Assume anyone, at any time, can read your emails. Do not share passwords or other confidential information by email.
  • Consider email encryption services, which encrypt email on your computer so that it can only be read by the sender and recipient.
  • Only open attachments from people you know.
  • Require two-step authentication to sensitive systems and accounts such as bank accounts.

If you’ve checked “yes” to many of these items, then congratulations – you’re ahead of many other nonprofits in the cyber security department.

One last step is to have an emergency plan on hand to restore critical systems in the event an attack cripples your nonprofit’s systems. The FBI virus, a form of ransomware, can infect computers merely through visiting an infected website and it is difficult to remove. It locks a computer so that you cannot use it until the ransom is paid to the criminal. A skilled computer technician or service can remove it but will cost both time and money.

This is just one example of possible threats. As the threats grow, having a backup plan and a plan to keep working while your systems are fixed is critical to keeping your doors open and your work continuing without pause.

Welter Consulting

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

May 22
0

Is your Organization at Risk for a Data Breach?

By | Data, Nonprofit | No Comments

How often do you read about a data breach, identity theft or other types of computer hacks where personal information has been compromised? What would happen if your nonprofit data was breached and what information would be potentially stolen? As a nonprofit organization, you collect a lot of data on donors, clients, staff and other supporters and having all that data places a lot of responsibility on the organization to secure and manage it well. Having nonprofit accounting policies in place is a necessity to safeguard everyone’s interests.

How Much Data Do You Collect?

At first glance, you may think you don’t collect all that much data. Sure, you’ve got a mailing list on file of people interested in your nonprofit’s work, and email addresses for that monthly newsletter to send out, but doesn’t everyone?

Consider how people donate to your nonprofit. If you accept credit card donations over the internet, website security becomes critical to prevent criminals from stealing data from your donors. Passwords may also be important if you have a members-only area on your site where you host forums. When you really sit down to analyze your organization’s data collection methods, you’ll quickly realize that you’ve got more data than you initially thought.

Keeping Data Safe: Creating a Data Ethics Policy

Many organizations are creating nonprofit accounting policies for data security and ethics to help safeguard customer privacy and maintain the high level of trust they’ve worked so hard to build with their constituents.

To create your own organizational data ethics policy, follow these five tips:

1. Establish data-use goals: Knowing exactly why your organization collects data, and the use to which you will put it in the future, is the starting point for a data ethics policy. You have to know the reason why you’re collecting the data in the first place to establish guidelines about its use. Some common reasons for collecting customer data include future marketing, such as requesting that interested people sign up for your email list so that you can send them donation solicitations later.

2. Create a privacy policy: Privacy policies exist everywhere on websites but an important part of your data security and ethics work. You can create a privacy policy in several ways. There are privacy policy generators online that help you build a simple boilerplate privacy policy for your website. You can also ask your legal counsel for a recommendation. Once you create your privacy policy, post it online.

3. Assess the risks: Take a data inventory to understand exactly what data you have stored and what the risks are of maintaining it. Know what you have to work with, how and where it is stored, and who has access to it. Lastly, determine who controls access to the data and the steps your organization has taken to safeguard it.

4. Add safeguards: Every day it seems that hackers have found new ways to break into websites and steal personal information from customers. It may be worthwhile to consult with an internet security expert to make sure that your website and network have the latest security safeguards in place. Updating software and plugins for websites, adding a virus protector to WordPress-based sites to screen for virus-filled spam, and using other simple measures may go a long way in preventing theft and security breaches.

5. Conduct due diligence: If third parties have access to your data, such as mailing house or email service providers, do you conduct due diligence to ensure that their safety procedures match or exceed your own? Few organizations give much thought to who in other companies may use or

access their data. Make sure that you have steps in place to screen companies and understand their data security policies. Common third-party vendors who may access your data include marketing agencies, mailing list companies, list brokers, email service providers, and fundraising organizations.

Nonprofit Accounting Policies for Data Security

Once you have the basic information about your current data collection and use, formulate a general ethics policy and procedure document that can be shared throughout your organization. A little work now will come in handy later if the unthinkable happens and you have a data breach on your hands. Your constituents will thank you for taking extra steps to safeguard your data.

At Welter Consulting we are committed to keeping your information secure and finding you the most affordable technology, the most powerful solution, and providing expert support. We are dedicated to assist you in achieving your mission by leveraging technology and superior reporting. We are passionate professionals who choose to work in the nonprofit sector for the same reason you do – helping others. Click here to see a complete listing of upcoming training and webinars, including the Free NonProfit

May 15
0

Tips and Tricks: Finding and Using Advanced Smartphone Calculator Apps

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

How did any of us manage our businesses without smartphones? Today’s smartphones act like portable computers with more computing power in these tiny handheld gadgets then people a decade or two ago could imagine. For the busy CPA on the go, a smartphone offers a great portable computer that can

perform many tasks while you’re traveling, working from a client’s office, or trying to sneak in a bit of work between innings at your child’s Little League game.

One important app that no CPA’s smartphone should be without is a calculator app. We’re not talking about the simple apps that come with your smartphone, great though they may be. We’re talking about apps that pack the power punch a CPA needs for advanced number crunching.

Let’s take a look at some tips and tricks for finding and using advanced smartphone calculator apps. Before downloading any app, check to make sure it is compatible with your particular make and model of phone.

Android Compatible Calculator Apps

* One++ offers 245 calculating options that cover more than the basic needs of the average CPA. Unit conversations, basic and advanced math, capitalization ratios, depreciation, and much more are all available. Best of all, it can be voice activated, so it can find formula prompts for you with verbal commands. It can recognize 12 languages, so if you’re traveling and need to share it with another CPA, you’re covered too. It’s a great tool available from many of the Android Shops online, and it’s FREE.

* Mobi: Mobi offers two choices of calculators, a free version, and a very minimally priced paid version. The free version is just a step up from basic, but Mobi Calculator Pro, the paid version, offers great features for a CPA. The paid version features include expressions, formulas and highly advanced calculators. The app includes a memory function that enables you to recall the past 50 calculations, so if you make a mistake you can backtrack and find it. It also allows you to save your work.

* Wolfram Alpha: For less than what a latte costs, Wolfram Alpha offers a wealth of tools for financial advisors, CPAs, and others involved in the world of accounting, investments, and financial management. Data and research on stocks, indexes, mortgage value, present value, depreciation and other issues are included, and the tool can also perform advanced research for many financial queries. Wolfram Alpha also has an iOS version compatible with iPhones.

iOS Apps

* Soulver: For a small cost, you’ve got an amazing smartphone app for your iOS compatible products. Soulver includes columnar formatted calculations that are editable. You can also create currency conversions and perform unit conversions.

* Tydlig: Talk about a spreadsheet on the go – or on your phone, that is Tydlig. It combines a calculator with spreadsheet-style functions to build your own accounting canvas. Add labels to graphs and charts, calculate formulas, and export your work to a PDF to print back at the office. It’s a great portable accounting app if you travel a lot and need to conduct some work on the fly. For the amount of a candy bar, it may be a great investment for your productivity.

To find a great calculator app for your needs, review these and other compatible apps using any free trials offered. At these prices, however, you don’t need to pinch pennies. You can try one or several for a while and see which one feels right for your business needs.

With so many CPAs traveling for business, working remotely, or working during their mass transit commutes, calculator apps such as these offer great productivity tools.

Welter Consulting bridges people and technology together for effective solutions for nonprofit organizations. We offer software and services that can help you with your accounting needs. We offer hands-on training as well as webinars to take you to the next level with your fund accounting system. Check out the full schedule of our training events here.

May 08
1

Accounting for Interdepartmental Sales: It’s More Important than You Think

By | Accounting, Nonprofit | No Comments

Although the term interdepartmental sales may be reminiscent of the for-profit world, nonprofit organizations must be careful to account for transactions among departments or entities within their organization and account for them properly. When the output of one division in your organization becomes the input of another, you have an interdepartmental transfer on your hands – and a transaction that must be recorded in the accounts.

For a nonprofit organization, interdepartmental sales may be less common than in the for-profit world, but it still occurs. Let’s say that your nonprofit has a publishing division that publishes guidebooks for the industry that you serve. These books cost $20 each, wholesale price, and earn a substantial amount of margin for your nonprofit when sold through bookstores, online outlets, and at membership events. If a department orders 20 books, these books must be taken out of inventory and charged back to the department. Failing to charge back to the department ordering the books means a loss in the publishing division without accounting for the transfer. Interdepartmental transfers account for the movement of goods from one group’s budget to another in the organization.

Nonprofits that offer consulting services to members may also find that they need to account for interdepartmental transfers. If similar services offered internally generate revenue when offered externally, they should be priced and charged as interdepartmental transfers.

Conflicting Goals

There are certain problems inherent in any interdepartmental transfer. Interdepartmental transfers may be charged at a lower rate than selling the same goods or services to an entity outside of the organization. Too many interdepartmental transfers can keep a department from achieving financial goals. The department has more incentive to sell to outside entities than internal ones if they can make a higher margin on the same item sold elsewhere.

It can also be tricky to account for every service or item moving between departments. Should the creative services department charge for their graphic designer’s time when they also provide services to members?

Developing a rubric for interdepartmental transfers can pre-empty these and other questions that arise as you consider accounting for interdepartmental transfers. Not every situation is black and white, and a balance must be struck between common sense and good accounting practices. Each nonprofit will handle the situation differently depending on how they work with external and internal groups.

Get Feedback

Lastly, it is important to involve your organization’s managers in decisions regarding interdepartmental transfer pricing. Establishing pricing policies impacts their budgets. If their performance reviews are based on how well they achieve their goals, including managing budgets, then ensuring that this information is calculated fairly and with input is important.

Another method to assess interdepartmental transfer pricing is to review the going rate for similar goods and services. If a published average is available for your industry, item, or service, then using a published, commonly accepted rate may be a good way to begin. With input and review, this information may be enough to provide a fair range of interdepartmental pricing.

Although uncommon in the nonprofit world, transfer pricing or interdepartmental pricing is an important part of accounting for nonprofits. Having an established policy that can guide managers and staff is a great step forward.

Did you know that Welter Consulting offers the Nonprofit Enrichment Series, a free learning resource for nonprofit organizations? Check out our next free webinar.