Not-For-Profit Budgeting » (3rd Edition)

EDWARD J. McMILLAN, CPA, CAE, is the author of Guide to Fringe Benefits for Not-for-Profit Organizations, Complying with SFAS #116 and #117, Essential Financial Considerations for Not-for-Profit Organizations, Second Edition, Budgeting and Financial Management Handbook, Second Edition, Model Accounting and Financial Policies and Procedures Handbook, Second Edition, and The Audit: A Novel. He is a nationally recognized speaker on not-for-profit financial and management topics and, in 1993, was appointed faculty chair for finance for the United States Chamber of Commerce’s Institutes for Organization Management program.

Take control of your organization’s short- and long-term financial plan

The trend toward decentralizing decision-making powers in not-for-profit organizations means a greater number of employees are responsible for creating and managing the annual budget. Budgets, therefore, must be well designed, easy to implement, and accessible to professionals from a variety of backgrounds. Wishful thinking? Not any more. Continuous budgeting, as explained in Edward McMillan’s trenchant Not-for-Profit Budgeting and Financial Management, offers a system that is not only easy to use and monitor, but also ensures true fiscal accountability in the complex not-for-profit arena.

Continuous budgeting breaks down time-consuming annual budgeting processes into twelve easy-to-manage increments that produce more accurate and effective resource allocation. In this handy guide, the author explains how to:

• Separate controllable, semi-controllable, and fixed expenses
• Take corrective actions during the year to offset budget shortfalls
• Define the roles of the CEO, CFO, the staff, and volunteer leaders
• Establish expense reduction plans before they are needed
• Prepare and present such top-notch budget documents that budgets will be approved the first time

McMillan writes in a nontechnical, understandable, how-to language and format, incorporating dozens of relevant forms and documents. This completely revised and expanded edition also includes all-new material on long-term financial planning, so that not-for-profits can work toward liberating themselves from the year-to-year scramble for increasingly scarce resources.

Not-for-profit managers must be able to direct and control their resource allocation rather than be controlled by outdated, cumbersome, and inaccurate budgeting processes. Not-for-Profit Budgeting and Financial Management, and its powerful system of continuous budgeting, enables all not-for-profit professionals to create and manage reasonable financial plans that fit their organization’s needs.