The New England Not-For-Profit Accounting Advisor

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, signed into law on Dec. 20, 2019 by President Trump, is the most expansive piece of retirement legislation since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Effective Jan. 1, 2020, the law will have some impact on nearly every retirement plan and participants with numerous provisions intended to increase retirement security, expand plan coverage, encourage retirement savings and decrease plan costs. It offers small businesses tax incentives to set up automatic enrollment in retirement plans for its workers, or allows them to join multiple employer plans, where they can band together with other companies to offer retirement accounts to their employees in the first place.

Topics: not-for-profit, 403(b), NFP, the SECURE Act, retirement planning

No one wants to be surprised by a risk that suddenly becomes a reality. The risk landscape is constantly changing for not-for-profit organizations, so we set out to learn more about hot topics in risk management to help guide your 2020 risk planning.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, risk, risk management, Not-For-Profit Risk Management, risk mitigation

It is not possible for not-for-profit organizations and higher education institutions to prepare for all the risks they could face in the coming year. At some point, you have to make decisions about which risks have the highest chance of occurring or would have the highest monetary or operational impact if the risks happened.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, risk, risk management, Not-For-Profit Risk Management, risk mitigation

The Institute of Medicine defines health literacy as the “degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.”

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, Health care, health literacy

Topics: NFP, NFP Conference, EACUBO

More not-for-profit organizations are recognizing the benefit of financial performance measurement as a strategy for evaluating operations, programs, services and financial stability. One useful measurement tool is financial ratio analysis. It involves taking data from your financial statements, using it to calculate ratios appropriate for your not-for-profit, and then benchmarking those ratios against past performance, management objectives, or other similar not-for-profit organizations.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, financial performance measurement, financial ratio analysis, nonprofit, ratio

Not-for-profit organizations benefitted from a stronger economy and higher per capita disposable income in recent years. But each sector also faces unique challenges for future growth ranging from the effect of social media on civic organizations to the impact the low employment rate is having on higher education.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, nonprofit, IBISWorld, Not-for-profit trends

Independent contractor or employee? The question has entered the ring after late-night comedian John Oliver criticized World Wrestling Entertainment for not considering its star wrestlers employees.

He makes a compelling case on his show, Last Week Tonight, that WWE wrestlers should be considered employees who are entitled to benefits such as health insurance, paid time off, and retirement plans. Both classifications of workers are important to the economy, especially as an estimated 56.7 million Americans are choosing to freelance.

Topics: FICA, not-for-profit, nonprofit, Independent Contractor

Managing a benefits program means managing change, and that change is particularly abundant in today’s health care environment. At the same time, employers must ensure their benefit offerings serve the evolving needs of employees and their families and support the organization’s short-and long-term objectives.

Topics: not-for-profit, Health care, competing for talent, nonprofit, not-for-profit talent, healthcare, Employee Benefits

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