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.

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.