Financial Statement Essentials for Not-for-Profits 2 CPE

Financial statements are crucial to managing the economic stability and financial well-being of organizations.  Most individuals understand the basic concepts of the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement.   Yet, many have difficulty interpreting the information.  Often, this is simply due to a lack of understanding of the relationship and purposes of each statement.

This course is for the non-financial professional who wishes to have a greater understanding of the purpose and use of the financial statements.  It can also be a tool for the professional just entering the financial profession and who is looking to gain a deeper insight into the aspects of preparing a company’s financial statements.

There are variances in the format, structuring and reporting of for-profit financial statements vs. not-for-profit (NFP) statements.  December 31, 2018 saw significant changes to NFP financial reporting.  Accounting Standard Update (ASU) No. 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of NFP Entities, became effective, and it is essential for NFP organizations to understand the various aspects of the ASU (A separate course is listed by this instructor on the Illumeo platform that details the specific changes outlined in ASU 2016-14).  This course is meant to provide an overview of the basic concepts required in entity financial statements.  Since varying concepts exist between a for-profit organization and a NFP organization, we will utilize this platform to compare and contrast the major financial statements including:

• Balance Sheet (For Profit)/Statement of Activities (NFP)
• Income Statement (For Profit)/Statement of Operations (NFP)
• Cash Flow Statement

Prerequisites

No advanced preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.

Learning Objective

• Explore the  variance between the for-profit balance sheet and the not-for profit statement of activities
  • Identify what ”balancing" the balance sheet means.
  • Recognize the relationship of the balance sheet and statement of activities to the income statement and statement of operations.
• Explore what comprises revenue in for-profit vs. not-for-profit (NFP) organizations.
  • Examine the variances between the income statement in a for-profit and the statement of operations in a NFP.
• Explore why the cash flow statement is King.
  • Explore elements of the Cash Flow statement in both in for-profit vs. not-for-profit (NFP) organizations.

Last updated/reviewed: July 21, 2025