Accounting issues illustrated in 990 of a cancer charity – 1

“Little Money of Children’s Cancer Charity Goes to Main Programs” is a major article in Chronicle of Philanthropy by Caroline Preston discussing the accounting at Children’s Cancer Recovery Foundation.

Overview

I mentioned this article here. There is much in the article that can be discussed from an accounting perspective. I will touch on some of the ideas.

The Chronicle article is behind a paywall, so you need to use your online subscription to read it or grab the February 28, 2013 print edition.

This series of posts is going to be an inside-baseball discussion. More technical than usual with lots of accounting shorthand. Probably won’t be much fun unless you are already familiar with issues in the NPO world. Likely to be wordier than usual (as if I wasn’t wordy enough already!)

You can find the organization’s 990 for 2011 on their website here.

Why this discussion and why this organization?

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Jim Ulvog

Gaining a new perspective hurts

Two new perspectives that hurt my brain and heart….

In the last two years I’ve learned of the occasional harm caused by some of the things we do while trying to help others. See my posts on unintended consequences.

I know this new way of seeing outcomes is sinking deep into my brain by looking at my immediate sadness upon reading two articles at Africa is a Country a few weeks ago. After letting the articles sit for a while, it is time to discuss them. First, swimsuits…

Swimsuits

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Jim Ulvog

Before you think about suing a blogger…

….you might want to read this:

Libel in the Blogosphere: Some Preliminary Thoughts by Glenn Reynolds. It’s a free download. Only 14 pages long.

Although the paper was written in 2006, it is remarkably current.

Full disclosure time. Yes, I have a biased and vested interest in the idea of not suing bloggers. Take my comment with whatever size grain of salt you wish.

The biggest issue to consider is the pushback you may receive from the rest of the blogosphere if you even threaten a blogger.

A few minor points are that most bloggers don’t have enough of a deep pocket to make litigation worthwhile and you can probably get a near instantaneous correction with a polite request.

Back to the major issue.

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Jim Ulvog

Don’t quite understand those LinkedIn endorsements?

(Cross-posted from my other blog, Attestation Update.)

They haven’t quite made sense to me. Probably because of a complete lack of previous effort on my part.

Well, David Albrecht has a post that opens the door. Check out LinkedIn Endorsements and Accountants. He gives some background on the endorsement feature at LinkedIn. He thinks it is a good thing in terms of providing a basic level validation of your skill sets.

His comment: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Are people too nice in the nonprofit sector?

That’s the question in Caroline Preston’s article at The Chronicle of Philanthropy – Some Nonprofit Leaders Ask: Is Philanthropy Killing Itself with Kindness?

The answer in over 1,500 words: check out Ms. Preston’s article.

The answer in six words: Do you really need to ask?

The answer in one word: Yes

A one paragraph explanation from the article:

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Jim Ulvog

Charity Navigators reallocates joint costs on a selective basis

I visited with the staff of Charity Navigator and learned they are reallocating joint costs from program to fundraising on a selective basis, not across the board.

There website suggests they reallocate all joint costs that go into the program category. See their page How Do We Rate Charities’ Financial Health? which says:

Joint Cost Allocation Adjustment

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) allow for organizations that follow SOP 98-2 or ASC 958-720-45 to report their specific joint costs from combined educational campaigns and fundraising solicitations and the IRS requires organizations to disclose this on the Form 990. In most cases, charities utilizing this technique allocate a small percentage of their solicitation costs to program expenses from fundraising expenses. However, we believe that donors are not generally aware of this accounting technique and that they would not embrace it if they knew a charity was employing it, nor does Charity Navigator. Therefore, as an advisor and advocate for donors, with rare exception, when we see charities using this technique we factor out the joint costs allocated to program expenses and add them to fundraising.

Blog post from WV staff asks are joint costs valid?

Writing at the NFP Audit and Accounting blog, ejwcpa takes exception to Charity Navigator’s position – are join costs valid?

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Jim Ulvog

Discussion of joint cost allocation, variance power, GIK valuation, and portion of funds spent for outside fundraisers, all for one charity

Yes, that is a lot of ground to cover.

Long article out today in the on-line edition of Chronicle of Philanthropy by Caroline Preston covers all those issues in just one NPO – Little Money of Children’s Cancer Charity Goes to Main Programs.

The article is only available on-line and in the print edition soon to arrive in your mailbox.

When the article is out on-line I’ll have more to say.

In the meantime, just know the article discusses one cancer charity at length. Also includes the names of other NPOs that have been in the news lately.

If you have access to either the on-line or paper edition, the article starts on page 7. It runs for one full page and two half-pages.

Jim Ulvog

Here’s a bad place to be – the board isn’t sure which set of bylaws are current

Beth Chase describes a board that didn’t know whether the bylaws they were looking at were current. A major decision was put on hold while they made sure they were looking at the correct set.

Check out Don’t Let This Happen To Your Board.

She has a couple of suggestions to keep out of this jam.

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Jim Ulvog

Check out Evernote for storing articles, ‘net resources, and lots of other stuff

(Cross-post from my other blog Attestation Update.)

I’ve been using Evernote for about two months now. It is a great tool to store internet articles, PDF documents, and other files.

It gives you a great way to store, access, and search those interesting web articles you would like to look at again.

Charles Hall, at CPA-Scribo introduces Evernote for CPAs:

Evernote is a game-changer for CPAs.

It is every bit as useful for someone in the NPO world. Mr Hall continues: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

World Vision posts pro forma adjustment which drops combined total revenue for 2008 and 2009 by 11.5% and cuts combined GIK revenue by 34.6%

World Vision has posted their 2012 financial information. You can find the information on this page. The audited financial statements are here.

Included on that page is another document, Charity Navigator Disclosures. This contains their pro forma disclosure of what changes World Vision believes would have been made to the 2008 and 2009 financial statements if the requirements for SFAS 157 had been applied for those years.

We will leave aside for the moment the opinion of some, including me, that implementing SFAS 157 should have had no impact on the valuation of 500 mg mebendazole, since it is illegal to distribute that medicine in the United States both before and after SFAS 157 went into effect.

The pro forma calculation reduces GIK revenue by $143M in 2008 and $126M in 2009. World vision disclosed in their 2010 CFO’s letter that the 2010 revenue would have been $140M higher using the valuation amounts in place earlier. That amount for 2010 is repeated in the disclosure memo.

The pro forma calculation reduces GIK revenue by 30.5% in 2009 and 39.1% in 2008. Total contributions drop by 10.3% in 2009 and 12.9% in 2008.

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Jim Ulvog

How many people die from reusable grocery bags?

5.5 per year in the county of San Francisco.

Plus a large increase in the number of ER visits.

That is the statistical conclusion from the Grocery Bag Bans and Foodborne Illness study by Professors Klick and Wright. You can download the study for yourself at the link in the previous sentence.

(Why is this post here instead of one of my other blogs since it is a bit off-topic from the focus here? Two reasons. First, my unintended consequence discussion is on this blog. Second, this illustrates the concept of unintended consequence which has huge implications for the missions community.)

In his article The Disgusting Consequence of Plastic-Bag Bans, Ramesh Ponnuru summarizes the study as follows: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Joint Cost Allocation is drawing attention

Chronicle of Philanthropy has a major article out on joint cost allocation, written by Suzanne Perry – Watchdog Cracks Down on Misleading Statements on Fundraising Costs (behind paywall).

The issue is that under certain circumstances, the accounting rules allow allocating fundraising costs into the program category on the functional allocation of expenses. The million dollar question is whether the particular fundraising cost meets very specific conditions.

Here is the crux of the issue in four sentences:

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Jim Ulvog

Article on joint cost allocation in Chronicle of Philanthropy

My post today will have lots of accounting shorthand.  This week’s print edition of the Chronicle of Philanthropy has a major article by Suzanne Perry on allocation of joint costs – Watchdog Cracks Down on Misleading Statements on Fundraising Costs.

Article is not yet visible on their website.

I have two observations.

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Jim Ulvog