Bookkeeping & Billing for Nonprofits & Charities

Bookkeeping for nonprofits, charities and associations: how LedgerBPO runs it

LedgerBPO provides bookkeeping for nonprofits & charities built around fund accounting: a named dedicated accountant tracks restricted and unrestricted funds, codes every expense by program, management and fundraising, reconciles grant spending to award budgets and closes the books monthly in QuickBooks Online Nonprofit or Xero, so your Form 990, Charity Commission or ACNC reporting starts from clean data.
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What we handle

LedgerBPO provides bookkeeping for nonprofits & charities built around fund accounting: a named dedicated accountant tracks restricted and unrestricted funds, codes every expense by program, management and fundraising, reconciles grant spending to award budgets and closes the books monthly in QuickBooks Online Nonprofit or Xero, so your Form 990, Charity Commission or ACNC reporting starts from clean data.
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Billing and books together

Restricted and unrestricted funds tracked so donor intent is honored in the ledger
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Reconciled every month

Expenses coded by program, management and fundraising for the 990 and the board
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What you see

Grants reconciled to award budgets with drawdowns and reports prepared on time
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A named accountant, a backup and a team lead

Inside your own software, on a fixed close calendar, with a reply from a person within 1 business day. Call +1-657-777-0006 or start a quote.
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Bookkeeping for nonprofits, charities and associations: how LedgerBPO runs it36 seconds · captions on · no audio

Updated September 2026 · Reviewed by Nimra Khalid

Nonprofits accounting challenges

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Restricted funds get spent on the wrong thing
A $50,000 grant restricted to a youth program becomes indistinguishable from general funds once it lands in the operating account. Without a class or fund tag on every transaction, the organization cannot prove to the funder or the auditor that the restriction was met, and the year-end release of restrictions becomes guesswork.
02
Functional expense allocation is done once a year
Form 990 Part IX requires expenses split across program services, management and general, and fundraising, and rating sites read those percentages. When allocation happens only at year-end, staff time and shared costs are estimated rather than tracked, and the program ratio reported to donors rests on a spreadsheet nobody can defend.
03
Grant reporting deadlines land on a small team
Federal awards above the Uniform Guidance single audit threshold of $1,000,000 in a fiscal year trigger a single audit (2 CFR 200, effective for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 October 2024). Even below that, each funder wants spending by budget line on its own calendar, and a two-person finance office cannot rebuild it from a general ledger that was not coded by grant.
04
Donation platforms and the bank never agree
Online gifts come through Stripe, PayPal Giving Fund, GoFundMe, Benevity and a donor CRM, each paying out net of fees on its own schedule. The mechanism is the same as any processor: one bank deposit bundles dozens of gifts, so donor records show gross gifts while the bank shows net payouts, and the two drift apart until someone reconciles them.
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Regulators in each country want different filings
A US organization files Form 990 by the 15th day of the fifth month after year-end, a charity in England and Wales with income over £25,000 files accounts and an annual return with the Charity Commission within 10 months of year-end, and an Australian charity files the ACNC Annual Information Statement within six months. Each filing pulls from the same books, and late or inconsistent books make every one of them late.

What we handle for nonprofits, charities and associations

Fund and restriction tracking

Every transaction is tagged to a fund and, where relevant, a grant using classes in QuickBooks Online or tracking categories in Xero, so net assets with and without donor restrictions are always reportable.

Functional expense coding every month

Expenses are coded to program, management and general, or fundraising at posting, with shared costs allocated on a documented basis, so Part IX of the 990 and the board's program ratio are ready any month.

Grant budget-to-actual and drawdowns

Each grant has a budget loaded against the ledger; we report spending by budget line, prepare drawdown requests for your approval and flag lines nearing their cap.

Donation and pledge recording

Gifts from your CRM, Stripe, PayPal and event platforms are matched to bank deposits net of fees, pledges are recorded when unconditional, and in-kind gifts are booked at fair value with support.

Board and funder reporting

Monthly statements of financial position and activities by fund, plus grant reports in each funder's format, reviewed by a team lead before the board or the funder sees them.

Year-end and audit support

We prepare the 990 data, the Charity Commission or ACNC figures and the audit schedules from a reconciled ledger; your CPA, independent examiner or auditor reviews and files.

Nonprofits software we work in

Nonprofits compliance notes

IRS Form 990 data (US)

Tax-exempt organizations file Form 990, 990-EZ or 990-N depending on gross receipts and assets, by the 15th day of the fifth month after year-end. We prepare the underlying data: revenue by source, functional expenses by program, management and fundraising, net assets by restriction, and officer compensation schedules. Your CPA reviews and files the return; we provide preparation support only.

Restricted versus unrestricted funds

Under ASU 2016-14, net assets are presented with donor restrictions and without donor restrictions, and restrictions are released when the purpose or time condition is met. We track each restricted gift and grant from receipt to release in the ledger, so the statement of activities and the notes show releases with support rather than estimates.

Charity Commission (England and Wales)

Registered charities with income over £25,000 must file an annual return and accounts within 10 months of the financial year-end, and those above the audit threshold need an independent examination or audit. We keep the books to Charities SORP categories where the charity reports on an accruals basis, and assemble the figures for the trustees' annual report. The trustees and their examiner or auditor remain responsible for the filing.

ACNC (Australia)

Charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission lodge an Annual Information Statement within six months of year-end, with financial reporting obligations that rise with size. We prepare the financial figures and, where the charity is registered for GST, the BAS workpapers for your TPB-registered BAS agent or accountant. We do not lodge the statement or the BAS.

KPIs we report

KPI	Why it matters
Books closed within 5 business days with every transaction fund-tagged	Untagged transactions are the root cause of every restricted-fund question at audit.
Grant budget-to-actual reports issued within 7 business days of month-end	Program managers can only redirect spending while the grant period is still open.
Donation platform payouts reconciled to the CRM within 5 business days	Donor acknowledgments and the ledger must show the same gift amounts.
Restricted fund balances never negative at month-end	A negative restricted balance means unrestricted money has been spent on a restriction, or vice versa.
Year-end schedules delivered to the auditor or examiner within 30 days of year-end	Late schedules push the audit, the 990 and the annual return together.

Services for nonprofits, charities and associations

Frequently asked questions

How do you track restricted funds in QuickBooks Online or Xero?

Each restricted gift or grant becomes a class in QuickBooks Online or a tracking category option in Xero, and every related revenue and expense line carries that tag. Net assets with donor restrictions are rolled forward monthly: opening balance, new restricted gifts, releases and closing balance. This produces the release schedule the auditor asks for without a separate spreadsheet.

Do you prepare our Form 990?

We prepare the data your CPA needs to complete Form 990: revenue by source, functional expenses by program, management and fundraising, net asset roll-forwards, grants made and received, and compensation schedules. Your CPA reviews and files the return. Because functional coding happens every month, the 990 package is a set of reports rather than a year-end reconstruction.

Can you reconcile donations from Stripe, PayPal and our CRM to the bank?

Yes, our ReconBot workflow splits each platform payout into individual gifts, fees and refunds, matches gifts to CRM records and posts the net deposit to the bank. Gifts are recorded gross with fees as fundraising expense, so donor acknowledgments and the ledger agree. Exceptions, such as a gift in the CRM with no payout, are logged for your development team.

How do you allocate shared costs across programs?

We use an allocation basis you and your auditor agree, usually staff time from timesheets or a percentage per position, applied to salaries, rent and shared overhead at each month-end. The basis is documented and reviewed annually. The result is a functional expense statement the board can read and a Part IX the CPA can rely on.

Do you work with UK charities and Australian charities?

Yes, for a charity in England and Wales we keep the books to Charities SORP headings and prepare the figures for the trustees' report and Charity Commission annual return, with the independent examiner or auditor reviewing. For an Australian charity we prepare the ACNC Annual Information Statement figures and BAS workpapers for your TPB-registered agent. UK and AEST hours are covered by our second office.

What does a nonprofit receive from you each month?

A statement of financial position and a statement of activities by fund, functional expense report, grant budget-to-actual by award, a donation reconciliation summary and a short plain-language note for the executive director and treasurer. Everything is reviewed under our Two-Tier Review process before it goes to the board. The outsourced financial reporting page for nonprofits describes the formats.

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Bookkeeping and billing for nonprofits & charities