Personal Finances versus Business Finances
I feel very confident in managing spreadsheet data for my personal finances. I’m also comfortable generating reports and date for my personal business, as well. How come I can feel so comfortable manipulating my personal and business finances, but draw a blank when faced with the financial reporting for a non-profit organization that I serve on?
I’ve been trying to read more and more books on business accounting and reporting and it just isn’t sinking in. We had a retreat this past weekend and I was certain that I would have budget reports compiled and new templates created for future use before the retreat. Each time I sat down with the data, my mind drew a blank. Every time I read something, it made sense but I couldn’t figure out where to start.
Perhaps it has something to do with how hard it is to overcome the status quo - we’ve got almost 8 years of financial data that needs better management and reports for. We have to scrap the current system and start fresh, but that seems so hard to do when you have 8 years of data tied up in the old methods. Honestly, we need a professional adviser/accountant/bookkeeper.
The retreat was successful (even without the reports I wanted to create) and we are at least moving forward with getting these issues worked out. Yes, it’s long over due, but thats what happens when can happen when you’re a volunteer run organization. Luckily, we’ve established a new committee to get these details sorted out. I look forward to those meetings and saying that we need professional help and letting go of the fact that I think I should be able to understand every single financial concept out there.
Of course, I’m going to keep trying the best I can in the meantime to understand this stuff.