Closing Your Books, LLC

Closing Your Books, LLC Personalized Cloud-Based Accounting, Bookkeeping Support,
Accounting Education/Coaching, Financial Management for Women.

Closing Your Books, LLC is a finance organization dedicated to working with women small business owner. We teach them how to manage, maintain and understand their business finances before and after hiring a bookkeeper or accountant.

08/26/2026

Leadership tells the board of directors that a bank has approached the nonprofit organization about an affordable housing joint venture.

In a recent DOJ case, federal prosecutors allege that the former board chairman and executive director presented that opportunity before the board authorized an $800,000 investment. Prosecutors contend the representation was false and allege that the $800,000 was transferred to an account controlled by the former board chairman. The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

What I want to know is what supported the proposal before it reached the board.

In an established nonprofit organization, a financial proposal can receive leadership review and board oversight while the information supporting it still comes from the same source.

From a CFO and Certified Fraud Examiner perspective, I want to know who supplied the information about the joint venture and what source documentation leadership had to confirm it.

When a significant financial proposal reaches your board of directors, can leadership trace the information supporting it back to its source? Comment with how your organization documents that trail.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, March 31, 2026.

08/25/2026

The board approved an $800,000 investment after leadership said a bank had approached the nonprofit organization about an affordable housing joint venture.

Federal prosecutors allege that representation was false and that the money was transferred to an account controlled by the former board chairman. The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

What I keep coming back to is the board’s approval, which makes me want to know what directors had to support an $800,000 decision.

If a bank approached the nonprofit organization with an $800,000 opportunity, I would want to know what came directly from the bank and what directors had in front of them before the vote.

An established nonprofit organization can have a formal approval process and board oversight while directors still depend on the same people for most of the information behind a major financial decision.

From a CFO and Certified Fraud Examiner perspective, this is where I start looking at how the information moved through the organization before the money did.

When a significant financial proposal reaches your board, what can directors verify without going back to the same people who presented it? Tell me in the comments what your board relies on.

Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, Former Board Chairman and Executive Director of Healthcare Non-Profit Indicted for Embezzlement, Bribery, and Kickback Schemes, March 31, 2026.

Detroit gave me another reason to put on a cute outfit and head to The Henry Ford Museum.I kept finding an exhibit I wan...
08/24/2026

Detroit gave me another reason to put on a cute outfit and head to The Henry Ford Museum.

I kept finding an exhibit I wanted to stop for and a spot where I needed a picture. Every time I thought I was done, something else caught my attention.

Me Monday from Detroit. ❤️

Follow Lozelle Mathai, MBA, CFEI for a look at how nonprofit organizations handle the financial side of the work, plus the occasional museum detour.

08/21/2026

Okay, you have the receipt. Why did the nonprofit organization spend the money?

Six months after grant-related travel, the finance manager reviews an expense reimbursement with the hotel receipt attached.

The record still does not explain why the nonprofit organization incurred the expense.

Finance now has to look outside the expense record to understand the business purpose. The supporting documentation submitted under the accountable plan did not capture it.

When the business purpose is not documented with the expense reimbursement, finance has to go back to the employee who submitted it to find out why the nonprofit organization incurred the expense.

If finance reviewed that expense six months later, would the supporting documentation explain the business purpose without asking the employee who submitted it?

08/20/2026

A program manager submits an expense report without a documented business purpose, so finance sends it back.

The executive director submits an expense report with the same missing business purpose, but this time it becomes a conversation.

Your fiscal policy may require the same documentation standard across the nonprofit organization. Employees learn whether that standard applies the same way by watching what happens when the rule is not followed.

If hierarchy changes how the rule is applied, the internal control in practice does not match the one described in the policy.

What are employees learning from the way the organization applies it?

08/19/2026

Who Has the Authority to Enforce the Policy?

Finance has followed up twice about an expense report from the executive director. The required documentation still has not come in.

Now what?

In an established nonprofit organization, the accountable plan policy may be clear about what employees have to submit. The harder question starts when leadership is the exception.

Finance can review the source documentation and determine whether the expense meets the accountable plan requirements. Enforcing the consequence becomes a different conversation when the person reviewing the expense does not have organizational authority over the person who submitted it.

This is where the executive director approval structure has to be clear.

If the executive director does not follow the expense reimbursement policy, who in your nonprofit organization has the authority to act?

A floral dress from The J. Peterman Company, sneakers, and a fresh hairdo from Studio Lush was really all I needed.This ...
08/17/2026

A floral dress from The J. Peterman Company, sneakers, and a fresh hairdo from Studio Lush was really all I needed.

This is my kind of grown-woman style. Cute, comfortable, and still giving fabulous.

Big shoutout to Alexis for getting this hair together!

Sometimes getting dressed, feeling good, and enjoying the moment is enough.

Yes, ma’am.

08/11/2026

Your nonprofit organization could still be using a subrecipient risk assessment adopted before the 2024 Uniform Guidance revision. The form may have come from the state, another grantor, or a template your organization trusted. Once adopted, the language can remain unchanged even after the federal requirements are revised.

Has your organization reviewed that assessment since the revised Uniform Guidance took effect on October 1, 2024?

For federal subawards, 2 CFR 200.332 requires pass-through entities to evaluate a subrecipient’s fraud risk and risk of noncompliance with the subaward. Before the 2024 revision, the section addressed only the risk of noncompliance.

A form built around the earlier requirement may not prompt the reviewer to consider fraud indicators.
Before your nonprofit organization issues its next federal subaward, review the form’s instructions and questions. If the form uses scoring criteria, confirm that they reflect the current two-part evaluation.

08/10/2026

Your nonprofit organization receives a reimbursement request from a subrecipient. One bookkeeper prepared and submitted the request. The timesheets, service logs, payroll registers, and third-party invoices supporting it were maintained by that same person.

What evidence outside that bookkeeper’s control can your grants manager use to verify what was billed?

Segregation of duties is the concern inside the subrecipient organization. Your subrecipient monitoring procedures can address the risk by requiring source documentation and an independent review as a compensating control.

When the fraud risk evaluation and risk of noncompliance point to the need for additional monitoring, 2 CFR 200.332 allows a pass-through entity to consider specific conditions. One condition could require the source documentation named in the subaward to accompany each reimbursement request. Write the documentation requirement into the subaward terms and conditions, not only in the budget narrative. If your organization imposes the condition, the federal agency must be notified.

Limited staffing may prevent a subrecipient from separating reimbursement preparation from record custody. A supervisor, board treasurer, or outside accountant could perform the independent review by comparing the supporting records with the costs or services billed.

The assessed risk and results of prior monitoring should guide how frequently that comparison occurs.

A complete reimbursement package does not resolve the segregation-of-duties concern. Before approving the request, identify who performed the independent review and what evidence was compared.

08/06/2026

Nonprofit organizations can add new programs, secure more grant funding, hire additional employees, and expand their services without changing the way responsibilities are assigned. The organization may look different from the outside while the same few people continue managing financial reporting, budgeting, grant compliance, purchasing, and approval decisions.

As operations expand, financial responsibilities begin reaching across the finance department, program leadership, and executive leadership. A process that once belonged to one employee may now require information from several departments, review from management, and approval from someone with the appropriate authority. Without clear ownership, reporting bottlenecks develop, decisions are delayed, and accountability becomes difficult to trace.

Organizational structure is more than an organizational chart. It defines who owns each responsibility, where decision-making authority sits, how financial information moves through the nonprofit, and who provides financial oversight. It also helps leadership determine whether grant management, budget oversight, financial reporting, and compliance responsibilities are assigned to the appropriate roles.

A larger budget does not automatically create a structure that supports a larger nonprofit organization. Leadership still has to examine whether responsibilities, authority, and accountability reflect the way the organization now operates.

Has your nonprofit organization expanded without changing how financial responsibilities are assigned?

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