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JULY 2017 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 7 Survey Shows Nonprofits Most Concerned with Staffing and Funding Cutbacks By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Managing Editor The sur vey is intended to provide tax-exempt organizations with a barometer to measure performance on key areas includ- ing strategic planning, operations, scope and impact, human resources and governance. With breakouts by revenue and sector, nonprofits of all sizes and missions can use the report's data to find out how they compare to their peers. Organizations can also leverage the findings to help them make important strategic decisions to improve long-term sustainability and success. Lead findings include: Staff retention, funding squeezes and board leadership rank among top challenges. Staff retention and recruitment ranks as the number one challenge for nonprofits, cited by 72 percent of the respondents. Cutbacks in funding and drops in revenue follows, identified by 48 percent of nonprofits. Attracting quality leadership and board members (cited by 34 percent), rising costs (33 percent), compliance with govern- ment regulations (28 percent) and excess demand for services (25 percent) were also among the other top challenges. "People are at the heart of the nonprofit sector—and the data reflects that organizations deeply value their staff, leadership and board members. To maximize tightening budgets, it's increasingly important to cultivate effective leadership at the board level and competent, effective management to conduct operations," said Laurie De Armond, partner and national co-leader of BDO's Nonprofit & Education practice. Organizations may be overlooking liquidity issues. While only 11 percent of non- profits name liquidity as a concern, most (53 percent) maintain less than six months of liquid restricted net assets. The liquidity deficit is stark among health and human services organizations—nearly one-quarter (23 percent) do not maintain any operating reserves, compared to just six percent of public charities. "Liquidity issues can often fly under the radar for organizations. Nonprofits are facing an unprec- edented level of uncertainty this year, as government funding—at both the federal and state level— hangs in the balance. To protect themselves from any negative impact of continued funding short- falls, it is essential that nonprofits take proactive measures to focus on sustainability and build up their reserves," said Adam Cole, partner and national co-leader of BDO's Nonprofit & Education practice. Redefining scope for future operations. Nonprofits look to many differ- ent strategies to ensure sustain- ability and further their missions. While the majority of organizations (70 percent) did not increase their scope last year, survey results suggest that hopes for increased activity remain. Over the next two years, 56 percent of nonprofits plan to introduce new programs. Of those organizations, 27 percent will eliminate some current programs and introduce new ones. BDO Nonprofit Standards, a Bench- marking Survey These findings are from BDO's first annual Nonprofit Standards, a national benchmarking survey of 105 nonprofit organizations, across a variety of sectors with revenue above $10 million as of their last fiscal year. The survey was conducted in partnership with The NonProfit Times and fielded by Campbell Rinker, a market research firm. To find out how your nonprofit clients compare to industr y peers, view the full report at http://bit.ly/2uvtBWE. ■ STAFF RETENTION AND recruitment ranks as the number one challenge for nonprofits, according to the first annual BDO Nonprofit Standards, a benchmarking survey designed in partnership with The NonProfit Times. More than 70 percent of respondents cited those staffing concerns. tion and will reduce it to a one time occurrence. Most of the new systems utilize blank stock and print the entire check. This helps with fraud pre- vention as there are no preprinted checks sitting around to steal. The down side is there are no pre- printed numbers to monitor, but as long as someone can get your bank transit and account number, having pre-printed stock won't stop them. One way to catch redirected fraud more quickly is through the use of "Positive Pay" available from most banks. To do this after every check run, you upload a file to your bank that lists the check number date amount and vendor name of all checks cut. If a check is presented that doesn't match the file, the bank will notify you and provide a copy of the check for you review. This is also discussed in external fraud, but it's just as relevant for re-directed or extra checks that may be created by an employee. One recurring theme you've probably noticed in the advice above, is the need for redundancy in processes so that one person doesn't control all of the steps in any one cash related activity. It's much harder to defraud an organization when multiple staff are involved in these activities. In a larger organization it's easier to provide these controls, however it's possible and essential to do them in smaller organizations. ■ Peter Stam is the president of AccuFund.