Nonprofits have pursued corporate sponsorships for years, with good reason. Effectively executed, sponsorships can benefit both sponsor and organization. But if your nonprofit isn’t careful, a sponsorship can be deemed paid advertising and your organization could end up liable for unrelated business income tax (UBIT). Although the Internal Revenue Code includes an exception from UBIT for certain sponsorship arrangements, navigating the rules can prove tricky.

Communication breakdowns between a nonprofit organization’s development and accounting departments can lead to confusion, embarrassment and, worse yet, financial problems. Nonprofits, therefore, must take proactive steps to facilitate collaboration between these two critical functions. Here are three tips:

For more than two decades, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) has provided for-profit companies with guidance on designing and maintaining internal controls, as well as assessing their effectiveness. A joint initiative of several professional accounting groups, COSO recently revised its original framework with the release of Internal Control — Integrated Framework.

Not all of the updated framework will apply to nonprofits. But this new guidance can provide a structure for organizations trying to establish, strengthen or assess their internal controls.

Changes to not-for-profit reporting rules are coming. Are you familiar with the FASB’s proposed new model of reporting for not-for-profit organizations, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities? Currently, the FASB is reviewing comments received for this proposed standard, which was issued in April, and the FASB will consider comments received during a comment period that closed August 20 before setting an effective date. The proposed changes will require retrospective application once adopted.

We have summarized the following areas we consider to be the significant changes outlined in the proposed standard.

A U.S. charity recently made the news when it was accused of reporting an inaccurately high percentage of every donated dollar that went to program services. The media outlet that uncovered the discrepancy looked beyond that claim, though, to scrutinize the organization’s outcomes — a strong sign of the growing importance of outcome measurement. Savvy stakeholders, as well as savvy nonprofits, realize that outcomes can convey a more complete picture of an organization’s performance than figures pulled from financial statements.

An Excess Benefit Transaction occurs when the consideration that a disqualified person receives exceeds the value that is warranted by the person’s employment with a tax-exempt organization.  In simple terms, the employee is getting paid more than their actions are worth.  This can cause serious complications as the IRS imposes an excise tax on these excess benefits. 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, requires the annual filing of FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, by organizations that had an interest in, or signature or other authority over, financial accounts having an aggregate value exceeding $10,000 in a foreign country at any time during the calendar year reported.  Financial accounts include bank accounts, brokerage accounts, mutual funds, trusts, or other types of foreign financial accounts.  Keep in mind that the FinCEN Form 114 supersedes the prior Form TD F 90-22.1.