Those who manage financials for a public sector organization know the challenges of managing funds. Funds usually require special setup within an accounting system to accommodate regulations, restrictions, and limitations. Each fund must be assigned a unique ledger account that provides revenue, expense, and balance sheet reports. Funds must also be summarized as a whole within the organization.

Challenges of Fund Management

Fund management can present challenging tasks to not-for-profit organizations:

Transferring balances between accounts can be risky and error prone.
Failure to adhere to reporting guidelines may contribute to a lack of confidence toward an institution, and could result in disappointed benefactors and loss of funding.
An increasing number of reporting guidelines must be followed. For example, the GASB 34 guideline is an attempt to bring public sector reporting in line with private sector accounting.
Managing funds that fuel multiple projects requires careful reconciliation, a tedious task with manual accounting.

Benefits of Fund Management

Microsoft Business Solutions offers fund management applications to help make transferring balances between accounts an accurate, seamless process. A comprehensive solution provides these benefits to government organizations managing multiple funds:

Helps reduce errors associated with manual reconciliation of funds.
Eliminates manual journal entries.
Processing is automatic, saving employees time.
Helps avoid missed transactions and posting errors.
Minimizes the need for accounting personnel to know all related accounts.
Makes reporting easier and report results more accessible, helping ensure reporting guidelines are met on time.

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