CFO Shenanigans 

For nonprofits, December isn’t just a month. It’s the season. As much as a third of all annual giving lands in December, and nearly 4% of yearly online gifts arrive on December 31 alone, the single biggest giving day of the year. A wave of generosity can energize your mission and send your finance team squinting at donation timestamps, thinking, “Wait, which year does this belong to?” An online gift completed on December 31 may count as that year’s gift for the donor, while a

Holiday sales are up, the order book looks merry, and then January payroll arrives like an uninvited guest. Wait, we had a record quarter. Where did the cash go? It’s the most common December surprise in business. Your income statement says you crushed Q4, while your bank account quietly says something very different. Both are telling the truth. They’re just talking about different dates. Revenue and cash don’t run on the same calendar. You may book a November sale today, but

Your annual audit may feel like a financial safety net. It isn’t, and independence rules mean your auditor can’t step into management’s shoes and run your finances. Here’s the nuance: auditors can explain findings and recommend corrective action. But they can’t make management decisions, take responsibility for your controls, or implement fixes they’ll later audit. An audit provides reasonable assurance that financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects. Aud

Fraud rarely arrives wearing a ski mask. More often, it shows up as “I’ve always handled that”, and nobody wants to slow things down by asking questions. Watch for one person controlling the whole money flow: setting up vendors, approving payments, and reconciling accounts. Add a vendor you can’t quite verify, suspiciously round numbers, or an employee who never takes vacation, and it’s time for a closer look, not an accusation. The same goes for financial advisors and other

Have you ever opened a financial report, stared at three pages of numbers, and thought, “This looks fine… probably”? You are not alone. Boards approve budgets, review audits, and receive monthly reports, but many rarely ask the most important question: Who is independently watching the money day to day? According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the typical organization loses roughly 5% of its annual revenue to occupational fraud. The schemes responsible are o

If you work for a public housing authority or mission-driven organization, October 1 can feel like a finish line. The budget was approved. The books were closed. The board meeting is behind you. Everyone exhales, and then quietly assumes the new fiscal year will take care of itself. We’ll get the reporting cadence set up next week.We’ll review cash flow once the first month is over.We have plenty of time before HUD REAC submission deadlines start appearing on the calendar. He