We recently launched a whitepaper focused on finance professionals in the nonprofit space called "How to Stay Alive in the Accrual World". It provides an overview of many of the challenges CFOs and finance professionals are facing. Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) can be a smart solution for many of these top finance and accounting challenges. In our blog today, we'd like to dive into Reporting and Visibility. I had the opportunity to interview Zachary Griggs, DataBlend's Director of Client Experiences on how iPaaS can help nonprofits. Zachary has over 10 years working with nonprofits and has served as a Director of Finance, so he has a unique viewpoint that many finance professionals can relate to.
Reporting & Visibility
"The CFO needs to be supported by a strategic FP&A team that is excellent at all levels, from accounting for financial statements to planning for the company’s growth and providing insightful analysis. The smart CFO knows that having the right, modern team is the first priority, and it should be a team that is prepared for where the company is going—not where it’s been." ~ Jim Johnson, Former CFO of Adaptive Insights
Reporting and visibility must be one of the biggest stressors a CFO/finance professional has to deal with within a non-profit. They have responsibilities to the board of directors, donors, and leadership team to maintain a level of transparency. Inaccurate and discrepancies can tarnish an organization.
According to The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law, disclosure or transparency has become the most popular means of self-regulation, especially through the Internet, though mostly it has been inspired by new federal government legislation that requires much easier public access to IRS forms 990 (for public charities) and 990PF (for private foundations) and allows Internet posting as an alternative to making paper copies of 990s available. Effectiveness, corruption, and use of 501c3 soft money for political campaigns were only considered as relevant issues by very few respondents.
Areas where transparency is key:
Board Reports & Finance Packets: CFOs need visibility (into) both financial and operational data to proactively manage performance (and demonstrate accountability).
Overall Visibility: Give program staff, executives, board members, and others visibility to up to date data.
Budget vs Spend: Accurate visibility into budget versus actual spend. Continuous forecasting is important for accurate planning. Empower department heads to track expenditures against budget so that overspending does not happen. Enable better communication between departments.
Implementing an iPaaS increases efficiencies and data integrity. Organizations do not need to redo charts and graphs or data. iPaaS helps streamline this. Reallocation of time of moving data between Excel to higher value tasks. CFOs and finance professionals have more time to focus on strategic items instead of lower value manual items.
Watch this clip from Zachary's recent webinar "Demystifying Integrations" where he talked about iPaaS is so important.
Watch the snippet
Want to learn more?
Download the full whitepaper: How to Stay Alive in the Accrual World
CFOs and finance leaders are challenged with turning the numbers into something meaningful. They need to be able to derive insights and deliver information to the rest of the organization. The integrity, flexibility, and speed of that information enable your management and staff to manage the business more effectively.
You'll get an overview on:
- Top Challenges in 2022
- Funds & Grants
- Department Finances
- Reporting & Visibility
- Demystify Integrations – You can do it. You do not need IT.
- Five Frequently Asked Questions on Integrations
