The New England Not-For-Profit Accounting Advisor

In this day and age, it’s not unusual for company decision-makers to become furious with insurance carriers for frequent and substantial health benefit plan cost increases. Even more infuriating, carriers are often unwilling to supply any reason for such a rate action by not providing indication about medical claims, high amount claimants, prescription drug usage, and so on. This happens for many companies with 50-to-250 employees.

When companies are willing to implement programs that help employees reach and maintain personal health, it’s time to get creative. Controlling costs is possible when you look for innovative risk management tools. One of those tools is self-insurance, and another tool is a “captive” insurance company. Captives afford an additional layer of risk protection beyond self-insurance. And, for small-to-mid sized employers, captives can be especially useful tools.

Topics: not-for-profit, employee benefit plan, Health care, Lower Benefit Costs, health insurance, captive insurance, Joe Ellis

When it comes to what not-for-profit organizations should pay their top executives, the “instructions” are not always clear or obvious. The directive is that compensation should be “reasonable”, but reasonable may mean different things depending on who you ask. Your board could have an idea for a figure that is convenient for the budget, but would not attract the quality candidate that your organization needs to further its reach. On the other end of the spectrum, your compensation package may be outsized for the type of organization you operate, which risks drawing the ire of regulators and the community you serve.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, executive compensation, compensation risks, retain talent, Hal Wallach, not-for-profit salaries

Not-for-profit organizations that hold collections received some much-needed clarification from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) that will eliminate a diversity in practice. The clarification arrives in the recently issued Accounting Standards Update 2019-03, Not-for-Profit Entities (Topic 958): Updating the Definition of Collections (ASU 2019-03).

Topics: not-for-profit, FASB, Mark Winiarski, Financial Accounting Standards Board, U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, collections, American Alliance of Museums, U.S. GAAP

As not-for-profit organizations adopt the new financial statement presentation changes, they may want to take another look at their accounting for fundraising costs. Not-for-profits have some flexibility when it comes to allocating costs to fundraising efforts.

Topics: not-for-profit, financial statements, fundraising, NFP, Heather Hernandez, program costs, accounting for fundraising, joint cost allocation

As part of our commitment to keeping you informed with the latest regulatory developments, members of our Student Financial Aid Specialty Group recently attended the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) conference in Atlanta, GA. Among many topics discussed during the conference, the following are the key matters higher education institutions need to focus on in the near term.

Topics: not-for-profit, Department of Education, Federal Student Aid administration, single audit, FSA, Federal Student Aid, Perkins Loan, Pell Grant Funds

Several not-for-profit developments emerged during the first part of the year that should be on your organization’s radar: An industry merger could make financial reporting and presentation more important than ever; a not-for-profit employment survey provides a closer look at how the not-for-profit economy is faring; and we have the first indications of tax reform’s impact on charitable giving. The following three stories from the first of the year may affect your 2019 strategic planning.

Topics: not-for-profit, nonprofit, GuideStar, charitable giving, mergers and acquisition, nonprofit merger, employment survey

The Supreme Court made 2018 an incredibly exciting year for state and local taxes. For almost three decades, sales taxes from interstate commerce were controlled by one U.S. Supreme Court ruling: Quill v. North Dakota. In this case, the Court concluded that an out-of-state seller must have physical presence in a state before sales tax collection laws could be imposed. However, on June 21, 2018, that all changed. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Quill precedent when it ruled in South Dakota v. Wayfair that physical presence was no longer a requirement.

Topics: Tarra Curran, not-for-profit, nonprofit, Wayfair, South Dakota vs Wayfair

Even though the pace of new standard setting has appeared to have slowed, not-for-profit organizations will have no shortage of accounting considerations in the next year. Entities with fiscal year ends will be implementing the changes to their financial statement presentation for the first time, and all organizations will be tackling changes to contribution and revenue recognition accounting. On the horizon are the changes to the leasing standard, which will require analysis of all existing lease agreements. It’s never too early to start working on accounting changes. Getting a jump start on these and other updates may make year-end reporting significantly easier.

Topics: not-for-profit, Mark Winiarski, Financial Statement

Now is the time for not-for-profit organizations to begin implementing the new changes to their financial statements. Changes issued under the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Update 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities is effective for calendar year-end entities in 2018, and fiscal year-end entities in 2019.

Topics: not-for-profit, Michelle Spriggs, NFP, nonprofit, Not-for-profit financial statement, Financial Statement

After the first full year under the new tax reform law, one thing is clear: Several tax reform provisions may make tax reporting more difficult for not-for-profit organizations.

The tax law commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) passed into law quickly, leaving ambiguities about how some of its provisions would be implemented. Not-for-profits received some more clarity at the end of 2018 around how to apply some of the TCJA’s changes, but little in the way of relief. Most organizations should still expect to spend more time with certain segments of tax-related reporting, including quantifying and segmenting their sources of unrelated business income (UBI) and evaluating their qualified transportation fringe benefits.

Topics: Amy O’Loughlin, Not-for-Profits, unrelated business income (UBI), nonprofit, Tax Reform, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, TCJA, Tax Reform Act, UBI