Preparing the Form 990 is a lot more complex than filling in numbers on a form. The Form 990 is an information return, meaning that it’s designed to convey important information beyond the numbers. It is a public document, and while all of the information is of interest to the IRS, much of it is especially of interest to the public – prospective funders, reporters, other nonprofits, etc. It’s very important that your tax return be prepared accurately.
annual year-end close and tax preparation
With decades of experience applying GAAP and preparing the Form 990, we do this work accurately and with an eye to how external readers will understand your organization based on the financial statements and Form 990.
Before beginning the tax return work, and to ensure that you have accurate year-end financial statements, it’s necessary to close the books for the year. Most nonprofits in our target market maintain their books on a modified cash basis throughout the year, meaning that we may not record depreciation or accruals (such as prepaid expenses and deferred revenue) each month, since that information is not needed for decision-making during the year. But for formal financial statements (including the Form 990), we normally use GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles – these are the official accounting rules) to present accurate information. Our team prepares all the workpapers and calculations necessary to adjust the books to GAAP, based on information already available to us and on additional information that we ask from you.
If you have an annual audit, our year-end work includes coordinating with the auditor and providing them a clean set of books to audit.