Accountancy in the non-profit sector

conor87

I'm just interested to hear about people's experiences working in the non-profit sector, on the finance / accounting side.

Or maybe some of you qualified accountants have gone to work in a non-profit organization in a role other than accountancy? How did you find the transition? Has your back round helped or hindered you in your new role?

All the best,
Conor

Fidget

I've worked in accounts in the civil service in London. The area I worked in was back to front. So, instead of starting with £0 profit at the beginning of the year and calculating the profit/loss at the year end, we'd start with say £3billion at the beginning of the the year, and at the year end that would be £0.

In terms of the processes though it has been adopting the rules of 'real' accountancy over the past 12 or so years. It used to be cash accounting whereby if you bought an asset then the full amt was written off at the time of purchase - none of this depreciation of assets over useful life malarkey. Nowadays, the proper rules apply. They call it 'resource' accounting though - which basically just means proper accounting.

I haven't worked in the not for profit sector in terms of clubs/associations. I do remember having to draw up the income/expenditure statements though for my A level. I used to hate those subscription things - they were a menace with their owings and prepayments. :mad: