Statement of Activities for a Nonprofit Organization Example, Uses

Just as a CPR class teaches you how to perform the basics of cardiac pulmonary resuscitation, this brochure will explain how to read the basic parts of a financial statement. It will not train you to be an accountant (just as a CPR course will not make you a cardiac doctor), but it should give you the confidence to be able to look at a set of financial statements and make sense of them. When the $100K is earned, it is originally recorded as a restricted asset because it is restricted in its use. In Year 2, when the organization is ready to spend the earnings for their intended purposes, it reclasses the $100K to unrestricted assets before using the funds. The organization will record salaries expense for the social workers as well. Nonprofit financial management is unique from for-profit organizations because it focuses on maintaining accountability to both donors and constituents rather than earning a profit.

• These are expenses such as research and education that directly support the mission of the nonprofit.
• Generally, if you have fewer than three months of LUNA, you should take action to readdress your financial positioning.
• Internal service funds are not reported on the statement of activities unless they provide goods or services to entities outside the primary government.
• If your organization has deficits in specific periods, those deficits should be offset by surpluses in other periods.

The SEC’s rules governing MD&A require disclosure about trends, events or uncertainties known to management that would have a material impact on reported financial information. The purpose of MD&A is to provide investors with information that the company’s management believes to be necessary to an understanding of its financial condition, changes in financial condition and results of operations. It is intended to help investors to see the company through the eyes of management. It is also intended to provide context for the financial statements and information about the company’s earnings and cash flows. The requirements of this Statement are effective in three phases based on a government’s total annual revenues in the first fiscal year ending after June 15, 1999. Governments with total annual revenues (excluding extraordinary items) of $100 million or more (phase 1) should apply this Statement for periods beginning after June 15, 2001.

Cash Flow Statements

If you can read a nutrition label or a baseball box score, you can learn to read basic financial statements. If you can follow a recipe or apply for a loan, you can learn basic accounting. Prospective reporting of general infrastructure assets is required at the effective dates of this Statement.

It should also describe capital asset and long-term debt activity during the year. MD&A should conclude with a description of currently known facts, decisions, or conditions that are expected to have a significant effect on financial position or results of operations. Like all nonprofit financial statements, the central role of the Statement of Activities is to provide transparency and accountability to your donors and board. But it’s also an excellent tool for understanding just how healthy your business is. The first category to appear on this financial report is revenues, or how much money the organization is collecting. One of the most challenging aspects of tracking the financial health of a nonprofit organization is properly recording diverse sources of income.

Regardless of whether you’re new to the nonprofit world or an experienced industry leader, navigating financial statements can be challenging. A pledge is recorded at the present value of estimated future cash flows, based on an appropriate discount rate determined by management at the time of the contribution. The most significant sources of operating revenue are tuition and fees after institutional grant aid, clinical practice income Weill Cornell Medicine, and government corporate, or private foundation funding for mission-related activities.

CPA Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) : Statement of Activities

A company’s balance sheet is set up like the basic accounting equation shown above. On the right side, they list their liabilities and shareholders’ equity. Sometimes balance sheets show assets at the top, followed by liabilities, with shareholders’ equity at the bottom. The reports and statements generated for nonprofit finances are geared toward ensuring the organization stays accountable to its donors and constituents. All of the organization’s departments should have a general understanding of these reports so they can better work together to help the organization succeed. These four financial statements are critical to the long-term success of any nonprofit and it’s vital they are fully accurate.

The SOA report shows a nonprofit organization’s income, expenses, and net income for a specific period of time, all or part of a fiscal year. The report reflects the changes to an organization’s net assets resulting from financial activities that occurred during the fiscal year. The Statement of Activities records Cornell’s financial performance over a fiscal period. It details operating revenues, operating expenses, non-operating revenues and expenses, and changes in net assets. This report includes pledges, depreciation, and accruals (non-cash, long-term liabilities), and subsidiary income and expenses. In contrast, the Operating Budget includes cash payments on pledges, debt repayments, and omits accruals.

Cash flows from financing activities could also include cash received to support a capital campaign. Nonprofits occasionally fail to account for these restrictions and later encounter problems when they unintentionally use restricted funds for a different purpose. Doing so runs the risk of upsetting donors and can cause issues with the audit process.

Let’s look at each of the first three financial statements in more detail. The receipt of the check will increase unrestricted net assets by $30K and the payment to the doctor would use and therefore decrease unrestricted net assets. We welcome your feedback on this guide to Cornell University’s financial statements. Extraordinary items are transactions or other events that are both unusual in nature and infrequent in occurrence. They are also not within control of management (e.g., environmental or natural disasters, etc.).

Turn Your Nonprofit Website Into a Fundraising Tool: 5 Tips

Operating revenues include anticipated earnings related to Cornell’s mission of “learning, discovery, and engagement” along with services that support students and campus operations. In that case the line should be clearly labeled to indicate that not all interest is reported here. If you use cash-based accounting, you’ll only record cash deposited into your bank during the reporting period. In the for-profit world, they call the difference between revenues and expenses net income (or profit). The Statement of Activities shows users how much money the organization earned and spent over a specified time period. The report can be generated to show an entire year of the activity or one month at a time.

Operating revenues reported in the enterprise fund financial statement should be reported as charges for services of business-type activities. Nonoperating revenues with the exception for taxes and investment income should be also reported as program revenues. This report identifies funds received without donor restrictions and funds with donor restrictions. Additionally, this report will identify how much money the organization spent on operating expenses and how much money was raised from donations. Using an example from a company, let’s say ABC Corporation wants to plan its upcoming year. After examining their statement of activities, they can determine which fund they need to allocate more money too in order to achieve their goals for the year.

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All general revenues, including taxes, should be reported net of estimated refunds and uncollectible amounts. Charges for services are program revenues of a function/program that assess the charge even if the money is required to be spent on a different function/program. It is important to see the distinction between restricted and unrestricted as only unrestricted revenue can be used to pay bills. When a restriction is satisfied, those monies are moved from restricted to unrestricted and then used for expenses.

• A company’s assets have to equal, or “balance,” the sum of its liabilities and shareholders’ equity.
• You don’t have to jump through hoops and spend countless hours manipulating your financial data from an accounting system that doesn’t automatically create this essential financial statement for your nonprofit.
• Required proprietary fund statements are a statement of net assets; a statement of revenues, expenses, and changes in fund net assets; and a statement of cash flows.

Retroactive reporting of all major general governmental infrastructure assets is encouraged at that date. Phase 3 governments are encouraged to report infrastructure retroactively, but may elect to report general infrastructure prospectively only. Cash flows from financing activities include line items such as income generated by issuing bonds and payments made towards debt.

You should review your statement of activities monthly to identify trends and changes. If your organization has deficits in specific periods, those deficits should be offset by surpluses in other periods. If you’re spending more than you’re bringing in for several periods in a row, you need to figure out what’s going on and fix it before it gets too bad. Understanding your finances and resources is extremely important to a nonprofit, because it provides insight as to whether or not you have the required resources to fulfill your mission. Today we are going to examine and learn how to understand your Statement of Activities, or Statement of Income and Expenses.

Though it is possible to compress these rows down to just a few line items, it is customary to be more expansive in detailing revenues and expenses. It’s management’s opportunity to tell investors what the financial statements show and do not show, as well as important trends and risks that have shaped the past or are reasonably likely to shape the company’s future. Moving down the stairs from the net revenue line, there are several lines that represent various kinds of operating expenses. Although these lines can be reported in various orders, the next line after net revenues typically shows the costs of the sales. This number tells you the amount of money the company spent to produce the goods or services it sold during the accounting period. Governments should report all capital assets, including infrastructure assets, in the government-wide statement of net assets and generally should report depreciation expense in the statement of activities.

But if you’re spending more than you bring in for several periods in a row, you’re headed for trouble. Reading the Statement of Activities is helpful to internal users, like who we are Board Members, CFOs, managers, and founders, but can also be used outside of the organization when shared with the public, potential donors, members, lenders, or investors.

Your report will typically be created using information from your organization’s chart of accounts, hence the need for an organized accounting system and department. Finally, one of the categories often listed as revenue on your statement of activities is your net assets released from restriction. These are the funds that you are now able to use as unrestricted revenue, although they may have been restricted in the past. Because restrictions on revenue are a key element to be recorded in your statement of activities, let’s explore them a bit further. While for-profits focus on making as much income as possible to make more money for themselves, nonprofit organizations focus instead on how they can raise additional revenue to further their missions.

Although this brochure discusses each financial statement separately, keep in mind that they are all related. The changes in assets and liabilities that you see on the balance sheet are also reflected in the revenues and expenses that you see on the income statement, which result in the company’s gains or losses. Cash flows provide more information about cash assets listed on a balance sheet and are related, but not equivalent, to net income shown on the income statement. And information is the investor’s best tool when it comes to investing wisely. Each of the fund statements should report separate columns for the general fund and for other major governmental and enterprise funds.