The FMA Institute Courses & Resources Institute Overview The Blog Course Descriptions & Prices FUND E-Z FMA articles 1
The FMA Institute is committed to developing nonprofit financial leaders and facilitating sustainable fiscal practices so that you continue to move toward achieving your mission. Below is an overview of the courses we currently offer. The following pages list out course descriptions and prices. Our website, has up to date information on the dates and times. Course Schedule The Distance Learning Program: Web-based format Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional Kenneth Rogers, May - Economic Recovery Strategies Overview Kenneth Rogers, July - The Role of the Nonprofit Fiscal Office Kenneth Rogers, July - Budgeting: A Strategic, Team-Based Approach Kenneth Rogers, July - Close the Books: How to Get Timely and Accurate Reports Kenneth Rogers, July - What Your Financial Statements Really Say Software Courses: FUND E-Z Kenneth Rogers, Kenneth Rogers, July - May - The FMA Institute Blog You may also want to check out the FMA Institute blog: www.wordpress.fmainstitute.com (read and comment on relevant articles and information posted on the site). 2
Course Descriptions & Prices Course Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional CNAP is the abbreviation for Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional, a national program that offers nonprofit finance office staff professional certification. Initiated and developed through the Not-for-Profit Services Association, it is quickly growing to become the gold standard basic training for nonprofit financial professionals. Taught by instructors with deep nonprofit financial backgrounds and distance learning skills, this series of 7 consecutive webinars (one per week) also allows participants to tailor their experience by using their own organization s financials. In other words, it s not just about learning best practices, but the knowledge and skills you gain are immediately put to use. Price $750 or $675 The course covers the following topics: IRS classifications and Reporting (both external and internal) Audits, Budgeting, Effective Fiscal Systems, and more. Economic Recovery Strategies Overview This course will cover pro-active approaches to reducing costs and improving efficiencies related to staffing, reporting, and interpreting financial statements. The instructor will provide strategies and trends to address the nonprofit economic climate. From that discussion, practical tools and tips will be provided on how you can actively use this information to make strategic and day-to-day operation changes to your fiscal office. Do you know the basics in laying a foundation for a strong fiscal office? How efficient are your practices? You will walk away from this course with: $79 or $71 A clear understanding of financial trends (staffing concerns, budgeting techniques, reporting procedures, and more) and what they mean to your organization An action plan to review your current financial processes and based on the initial assessment, guidelines will be provided for your next steps Best practice strategies from nonprofit leaders and experts - what works and what may not 3
Course Price The Role of the Nonprofit Fiscal Office This course is designed to take you through a step by step process in creating the strongest fiscal team possible while maintaining (and even building new) internal controls. Your fiscal staff may have recently been reduced and roles are probably changing whether you want them to or not. Are you and your team ready to take on the increased responsibility of your job functions? Who exactly is managing your cash flow and are they able to develop a forecast of budget surpluses and/or shortfalls? Don t let changing or ambiguous roles jeopardize your internal controls and operations - join us for this 2-part webinar course and walk away with: $79 or $71 A checklist of key players, and who should be involved in making financial strategic decisions vs. day-to-day operations decisions. An understanding of best practices that specifically address changes in workload, financial staffing roles, and ethical financial practices. Practical tools you can take back to your fiscal staff or leadership that will reduce inefficiencies and maximize your fiscal staff's time. Budgeting: A Strategic, Team-Based Approach This course will help you to develop a well-designed budget process that facilitates programmatic, strategic and fiscal discussions among the leadership team, resulting in a mission-driven budget. It's critical to have a strong handle on how your organization's money is being spent. Is your department constantly monitoring your budget? Can your team accurately prepare for changes and cuts in your programs? What are the best steps to take moving forward? This course will take your nonprofit budgeting to the next level, by giving you: $79 or $71 A checklist of materials needed to begin the strategic budget process A firm grasp of the best practices both technically and philosophically regarding the nuts-and-bolts of nonprofit budgeting in a changing environment A strategic language to get board members, program leaders, and your executive staff on board with the decision making process Practical tools to streamline your budget development and monitoring processes, and practice using them. 4
Course Price Close the Books: How to Get Timely and Accurate Reports This course will teach you how to implement closing procedures that will streamline your reporting process and strengthen internal controls while maintaining your day-to-day demands. The FMA Institute understands that times are tough, and yet professional development and sound financial systems have never been more important. Given the current environment and increases in your day-to-day workload, it's important to stay on top of your financial reports. You will come away from this 2-part on-line course with: $79 or $71 Reliable, time-reducing strategies for the primary fiscal cycles Comprehensive checklists you can customize to your organization's needs A plan for creating process flows that ensure timely and accurate reporting What Your Financial Statements Really Say This online course is for staff responsible for preparing financials and telling your organization's financial story. Become confident in translating the numbers and reports. As funds and budgets may be getting cut, you now have the unique opportunity to use your financial reports to identify new possibilities and financial strategies and present them to potential funders, your leadership team, and the board. You'll leave the course with: The ability to understand how common transactions flow through the four financial statements $79 or $71 Understanding of the ratios that funders and watchdog agencies are using to determine your organization's "effectiveness" Practical experience calculating and interpreting the ratios, including your own! Strategic and practical tips on how you can present your financial story FUND E-Z We offer several hands-on "core" and "elective" courses that focus on practical and efficient FUND E-Z usage to maximize your organization s fiscal operations and reporting capacities. Details of the courses are given on the next pages. 5
FUND E-Z A la Carte: Individual Courses The individual course price is based on membership status. Once you have taken a course at the Institute, you become a member for two years. Course Number & Name **All courses are web-based, unless otherwise noted** Per-Course Fee Rate or Client Rate Core Courses 1000 Fundamentals 1010 FUND E-Z Set-Up: The Road to Success Elective Courses 2100 Just Say No to Spreadsheets 2200 Controlling Expenses with Purchasing 2300 Bridging the Divide between Development and Fiscal 2400 Govt/Performance-based Contracts & Fee-for-Service 2500 Improving Your Medicaid Billing Process - In Person $499 $179 $179 $179 $179 $179 $559 10% Discount 10% Discount FUND E-Z Certification Program Certification includes the 2 core courses and 2 of the 5 elective courses. It does not include the transition courses. This discounted price schedule applies to those registering and pre-paying for the certification program. $899 10% Discount Course number and title Core Courses V10 1000 - Fundamentals 1010 - FUND E-Z Set-Up: The Road to Success Elective Courses V10 **all courses are V10 except Medicaid Billing** 2100 - Just Say No to Spreadsheets 2200 - Controlling Expenses with Purchasing 2300 - Bridging the Divide Between Development and Fiscal 2400 - Using FUND E-Z for Government/Performance-Based Contracts and Fee-For-Service Arrangements 2500 - Improving Your Medicaid Billing Process (This is a Version 9 course) 6
Core Courses 1000 - FUND E-Z Fundamentals (a series of three 2-hour webinars) Getting to Know FUND E-Z - An Introduction (and Re-Introduction) to FUND E-Z Whether you have a new member of your fiscal team to be trained or need to validate how your agency is already using FUND E-Z, this course will provide relevant, practical knowledge you can use right away. You ll learn basic navigation and shortcuts to increase productivity as well how to use the A/P, A/R and G/L modules in the context of the realistic workflow of a nonprofit agency. You will also learn how to produce the reports needed to ensure your fiscal office runs effectively. In this course we will cover pro and standard features. Get Your Books Right Internal control isn t just a buzzword. In the fiscal office environment, it is a series of steps that you are obligated to take to ensure proper oversight of your agency s assets. It is essential that the fiscal office complete certain procedures and analyses on a regular basis. Segregation of duties and the resulting system security is another of the essential steps to establishing this oversight. You will learn what procedures and analysis should be done. You ll also learn how to protect your data from changes once the financial reports are distributed, creating reliable and consist financial reports. Understanding and Measuring Expenses Using Allocations and Budgets We all know costs need to be consistently allocated to programs to ensure grants and contracts are fully utilized. As more and more grants and contracts become performance-based, it is even more important to know what your programs really cost. Knowing your real program costs is key to negotiating fair reimbursable rates in this environment. You will learn how to develop allocation methodologies and how FUND E-Z can ensure that those methodologies are applied consistently. You will also learn how to record grant and contract budgets to facilitate budget-to-actual reporting at the agency, program and grant/contract levels and how to use the FUND E-Z budget module in cash flow planning. Navigation transaction level functions such as finalize, void and memorize. "Rules" for error handling, auto fund balancing and auto offsets. Basic security set-up Accounts Payable: vendors, invoices, credit/debit memos, check writing, reports Accounts Receivable: s, invoices, credit/debit memos, cash receipts, reports Journal Entries Bank reconciliation Financial statements with an introduction to filters and row sequences Allocations Budgeting Import and Export of data Closing the books 7
1010 - FUND E-Z Set-Up: The Road to Success (one two-hour webinar) Creating a Chart of Accounts & Understanding Batch Processing Understanding how to utilize certain functions in FUND E-Z, is the key to producing correct and accurate information. You will learn how to use the new batch-processing features to establish oversight in your fiscal processes. Another key topic discussed is a properly designed Chart of Accounts and how to set up (or revise) your Chart of Accounts. Batch Processing Chart of Account design, set-up and options Elective Courses (electives are two-hour webinar courses except Medicaid Billing) 2100 - Just Say No to Spreadsheets: Eliminating the Chaos Management, the board, development, program officers, auditors and funders are all stakeholders in the fiscal information of your agency, and each has a specific need for various types of financial information. You will learn how to maximize your time and resources through FUND E-Z's reporting features. Discussions will include using filters to report specific information and how row codes and sequence codes can streamline producing cost reimbursement vouchers. Custom Reporting [PRO] Using Filters Using Row Grouping Using Row Sequences 2200 - Controlling Expenses with Purchasing A well-defined purchasing policy adds control over expenses. In FUND E-Z, the purchasing module gives you tools to implement a purchasing policy and helps to keep expenses in check by reporting on expenses that have been encumbered. You will learn how to use the purchasing module to control expenses, what is purchased, and which sources are used. Purchase Orders Encumbrances Purchase Order Liquidations PO Items Encumbered Reports: General Ledger, A/P Ledger, Encumbered Open Items 8
2300 - Bridging the Divide Between Development and Fiscal Does the Development office prepare a report for the board that does not agree with the financial reports? If that happens at your agency, you are not alone. Often, separate Fiscal and Development systems track money differently so that reconciling is often difficult or impossible. You will learn about the FUND E-Z development module and how to create queries, reports and mail merges from the software you already own. Best of all, this information is integrated to your general ledger, ensuring that Development and Fiscal report the same information. Donors Gifts, including matching gifts, soft credits, pledges Campaigns and Appeals Households, employers and other relationships Views Mailings and Mail Merge Reports 2400 - Using FUND E-Z for Government/Performance-Based Contracts and Fee-For-Service Arrangements Whether your grants and contracts are already performance-based or your agency has decided to provide some services for a nominal fee, you need a way to produce bills and track receivables. During this seminar, you ll learn how the -billing module can automate billing processes and help you track all the funds due to your organization. Set-up including items, categories and sources Clients Invoices Process recurring invoices Adjustments Cash Receipts Reports 2500 - Improving Your Medicaid Billing Process (For Version 9) Full Day In-person Training Medicaid billing is often time consuming. If your Medicaid system and fiscal system aren t integrated, the time and effort spent in recording Medicaid billing information increases dramatically. You will learn how to update the company data screen to setup Medicaid Billing and learn about the required and situational HIPPA Code Sets and sources of these code sets. You ll also learn how to reconcile remittances with automatic creation of cash receipts and rebilling of denied claims. Also covered are the many labor saving features such as autocreation of claims by program and mass updating of claims. This is an in-person course taught at the FMA Institute in NYC. 9
FMA Articles located at http:///custom/resourcecenter_publications.html The Yin and the Yang of Strong Fiscal Infrastructures and Sound Programs April 20 In responding to the increasingly complex not-for-profit compliance, funding and operations requirements the sector is facing, many leaders are choosing to strengthen their organizations by reviewing their fiscal infrastructures. This article gives you a brief overview of the components and the process. A Countywide Non-profit Call to Action The Register Star February 20 On Feb 26, 20, Russell Pomeranz, Manager of Fiscal Advisory Services, was published in The Register Star. The article, A Countywide Non-profit Call to Action, calls on non-profit and community leadership to get together, think through their options, and possibly establish a task force to act on a more proactive approach to ensuring the influence of the sector. Fiscal Management: How Do Nonprofits Do It? York Nonprofit Press September 2008 How should nonprofits manage their finances? That is an easier question to ask than to answer. On the one hand, there are certain financial standards and best practices to which all organizations should aim. Yet, the range of actual fiscal management practices can be as variable as the nonprofit sector itself. What is the proper role of a nonprofit Chief Financial Officer? CPA Journal February 2008 Russ Pomeranz, FMA's Manager of Financial Advisory Services, has published an article in the February 2008 issue of the CPA Journal arguing that the nonprofit CFO must not be relegated to the role of "bean counter" but can and should serve as a strategic resource in advancing the organization's mission. The article details what a truly strategic financial function would look like, as well as outlining practical steps for moving your organization in that direction. Articles featuring FMA "Judge for Yourself: How a board self-assessment can help ensure accountability" by Robin A. Lempert. Advancing Philanthropy. Features FMA's "Fiscal Oversight Checklist" and guidance on how a nonprofit can conduct a self-assessment. 10