Onboarding with the James Moore Nonprofit Outsourced Accounting Team: What to Expect

Many nonprofit organizations today face complex financial management challenges. From ensuring grant compliance and maintaining strong internal controls to producing timely financial reports and managing cash flow, the demands on nonprofit accounting teams continue to grow. At the same time, recruiting and retaining qualified accounting staff has become more difficult and expensive than ever before –– and many nonprofits find themselves stretched thin.

These challenges have led many nonprofits to consider outsourced nonprofit accounting services. By partnering with a specialized firm, organizations can access experienced professionals without hiring and managing internal staff.

However, the success of any outsourced accounting relationship heavily depends on how well the initial transition is managed. The onboarding process is critical; it’s where we lay the foundation for long-term success by deeply understanding your organization’s needs, establishing efficient workflows, implementing technology solutions and aligning all stakeholders with new processes.

At James Moore, we’ve developed a comprehensive onboarding approach based on our years of experience providing outsourced accounting solutions to nonprofits. Here’s what you can expect when partnering with our nonprofit outsourced accounting team, helping you prepare for a smooth transition that sets your organization up for success.

First Steps: Laying the Groundwork for a Successful Partnership

The onboarding journey begins after a scope of services has been clearly defined and your engagement letter has been signed. Our dedicated nonprofit outsourced accounting team meets internally to assign team responsibilities and develop a detailed understanding of your organization’s operations and needs.

Simultaneously, we schedule a kickoff meeting with you. We’ll prepare a structured agenda designed to establish clear expectations and processes. We’ll introduce our respective teams, outline roles and responsibilities and begin mapping out the transition process. This is also where we start identifying the various systems and documents we’ll need access to, including your accounting software, bank accounts and important financial documentation.

Software and Systems Implementation

At James Moore, we provide outsourced nonprofit accounting services using three primary accounting software platforms: QuickBooks, Sage Intacct and MIP Abila. If your current software isn’t optimal for your needs, we’ll guide you through a conversion process to one of these platforms, bringing in external partners if required. In our experience, it might take 60 days or more to complete this transition. However, the timeline can be accelerated based on your organization’s responsiveness and availability.

Another key aspect of upgrading your current systems is implementing an automated accounts payable (AP) system. This process begins with a thorough review of your current AP process to identify any internal control deficiencies and understand your organizational workflow.

We then design a system that provides an efficient experience and ensures proper segregation of duties. This might include multiple approval levels based on invoice amounts, specific project allocations or departmental hierarchies. Once this system is established, we’ll confirm all invoices are paid in a timely manner and synced to your core accounting platform for easy record-keeping.

A Deep Dive into Your Organization

Throughout the onboarding period, our team works to develop a comprehensive understanding of your organization’s financial landscape. While we’re implementing your new accounting software, we’re also conducting a detailed review of all grant documents and loan agreements. This allows us to understand specific reporting requirements, allowable expenditures, debt covenants, payment schedules and interest rates related to your organization’s financial agreements — all essential information for ensuring compliance and accurate financial reporting.

Internally, we hold weekly meetings at which our team discusses your organization’s processes, procedures and questions that arise. These meetings provide consistent understanding across the team and help us refine our approach as we learn more about your operations.

Simultaneously, we’ll conduct weekly meetings with your team during the onboarding phase. These meetings serve multiple purposes: addressing your questions, identifying action items, resolving concerns and ensuring all necessary information is being captured and processed correctly.

The nature and complexity of the onboarding phase can vary based on your organization’s situation. In ideal scenarios, we work alongside existing accounting staff during a transition period, allowing for direct knowledge transfer. However, we often see situations in which key accounting personnel have departed, leaving us to piece together processes and procedures with limited guidance. While we’re fully capable of handling either scenario, the presence of knowledgeable staff during transition can significantly streamline the onboarding process.

Developing and Implementing Financial Infrastructure

As we progress through the onboarding process, we focus on establishing a robust financial infrastructure. This includes developing detailed workpapers for all asset and liability accounts, ensuring accurate reconciliation processes are in place, and addressing any historical discrepancies or outstanding items.

We use SuraLink, our secure document management system, to transmit a standardized monthly request list and create a safe channel for document transfers. This system is crucial for maintaining security in today’s environment, where fraudulent invoices and false vendors are increasingly common. We maintain strict protocols around vendor updates and payment changes, requiring secure documentation through SuraLink rather than email communication.

If your budget hasn’t been integrated into your accounting software, we’ll work to incorporate it, ensuring full tracking and reporting capabilities over your organization’s revenues and expenditures. We also focus on developing comprehensive financial reporting packages that meet the needs of both your board of directors and management team. This might include specialized reports for grant compliance, budget tracking or program-specific metrics.

Timeline and Path to Stability

While every organization’s journey is unique, full outsourced accounting engagements typically require about six months to reach a stable operating state. But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you’ll wait six months for financial statements. These will be produced from early on in our partnership. Rather, this timeline reflects the period needed to fully understand your operations, optimize processes and develop comprehensive reporting packages that meet all your needs. During the first month, we’ll document procedures specific to your business, including AP processing, month-end close procedures, key reporting deadlines, and preferred communication methods.

The stabilization period can be shorter when there’s effective knowledge transfer from existing staff, or longer when we’re working with limited historical information. For engagements with a smaller scope, it might only take a month or two to get things fully up and running. During this time, we’re not just maintaining your core accounting functions. We’re often implementing improvements, such as:

• Integrating budgets into accounting software
• Developing new financial reports
• Establishing or improving cost allocation processes
• Enhancing internal controls
• Streamlining operational workflows

Team Structure and Professional Support

Your James Moore team is structured to provide comprehensive coverage while maintaining clear lines of communication. At a minimum, each engagement includes a clerk, a mid-level professional (either an associate or senior) and a manager or director. Larger engagements may include additional professionals.

This team approach ensures continuity of service. If someone is out sick or on vacation, there’s always another team member familiar with your organization who can address urgent needs. It’s an important benefit of the outsourced accounting model; you’ll always have someone familiar with your organization available to answer questions.

You’ll have a specific person on our team that you can reach out to for day-to-day communications — typically a manager or supervisor. This ensures efficient communication while maintaining appropriate oversight of your engagement. After the initial onboarding phase is complete, meetings typically drop from weekly to semi-weekly or even monthly (although your team is available as needed). By this point, the goal is that all of your accounting systems are functioning like a well-oiled machine.

One significant advantage of our outsourced accounting approach is the ability to implement robust internal controls. Many nonprofits struggle to maintain adequate segregation of duties due to limited accounting staff. Our team structure naturally creates these separations, enhancing your control environment for audits, grant monitoring and board oversight.

Moreover, by partnering with James Moore, you transfer the challenges of accounting staff recruitment, retention and management to us. In today’s competitive job market, finding and keeping qualified accounting personnel is challenging — especially for nonprofits. Our team approach ensures you have consistent access to experienced nonprofit accounting professionals without the associated hiring and retention challenges.

Outsource Your Nonprofit Accounting to James Moore Today

The transition to outsourced accounting services represents a significant step toward more robust financial management for your nonprofit organization. While the onboarding process does take time, we’ve seen time and time again that our structured approach ensures a methodical transition that maintains operational continuity while implementing meaningful improvements to your financial processes.

Our team brings decades of nonprofit accounting expertise and a commitment to helping organizations like yours succeed. We understand every nonprofit is unique and tailor our approach to meet your specific needs and circumstances. From implementing automated systems to enhancing internal controls and providing comprehensive financial reporting, we’re dedicated to supporting your organization’s financial success.

Learn more about what to expect from James Moore’s outsourced accounting services for nonprofits here: Outsourced Accounting for Nonprofits: What to Expect

Ready to transform your nonprofit’s financial management? Contact James Moore today to learn more about how our outsourced accounting team can support your organization’s mission through superior financial management and reporting.

All content provided in this article is for informational purposes only. Matters discussed in this article are subject to change. For up-to-date information on this subject please contact a James Moore professional. James Moore will not be held responsible for any claim, loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any information within these pages or any information accessed through this site.