Yellowbird Nonprofit Accounting isn’t a CPA, and that’s ok.
If you’re looking for a CPA, you’ve probably noticed something. Yellowbird isn’t a CPA, and that’s likely ok for what you need.
Over the past twenty years, I’ve learned that many nonprofits start looking for a CPA when what they really need is better accounting systems. Somewhere between a full-charge bookkeeper and a CPA is a systems-driven accountant. That's where Yellowbird fits.
CPAs are incredibly valuable. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the work it takes to become one and maintain that license year after year. They specialize in tax law, audits, compliance, financial reporting requirements, and regulatory guidance. When it's time to meet your nonprofit's 990 and audit requirements, that's exactly who you want leading the engagement.
Yellowbird’s work starts much earlier.
Yellowbird is a systems-driven nonprofit accounting practice. We help organizations build accounting departments that produce accurate, reliable financial information month after month. That means improving reconciliations, designing better workflows, documenting procedures, building meaningful reports, automating repetitive processes, and ensuring all the software a nonprofit relies on works together rather than creating more work.
Most nonprofits don't have an accounting problem. They have a systems problem. Solving those systems problems is what Yellowbird is built to do.
The accounting itself is usually straightforward. What becomes difficult are the manual processes surrounding it. Information gets entered multiple times. Grant reporting lives in multiple spreadsheets. Payroll allocations are recreated each pay period. Month-end closes take weeks instead of days. Board reports require hours of manual work because the information isn’t organized in a way that answers the questions leadership is asking.
Those are systems problems, and they’re exactly the kind of work we enjoy doing.
One of my favorite things to do is help a nonprofit through an audit. People often assume the audit begins when the auditors arrive. In reality, most of the work happens long before that.
At Yellowbird, we handle much of the records and documents side of the audit. We reconcile accounts, prepare audit schedules, organize supporting documentation, respond to auditor requests, and help answer questions throughout the engagement. By the time your CPA and auditors begin their work, they should be receiving organized, well-supported financial records instead of spending valuable time sorting through incomplete information.
I enjoy working with good CPA firms and have partnered with many of them during my 20 year accounting journey.
Yellowbird doesn’t replace your CPA.
We make your CPA’s job easier.
It's a partnership where our roles complement each other. We focus on building strong accounting systems and producing clean, reliable financial records. Your CPA provides the audit, tax expertise, regulatory guidance, and independent opinion that only they can provide. Yellowbird provides strong internal controls, prepares the records and documents, builds the audit schedules, and answers the auditor’s questions throughout the engagement.
Together, those two specialties create something much stronger than either one could provide alone.
The goal isn't just to survive your next audit. It's to build accounting systems so strong that the audit becomes one of the easiest parts of your year.
CPAs solve compliance problems. Yellowbird solves systems problems.
Related Resources
• Nonprofit Accounting Services
