Yes, accounting is necessary even for not-for-profit organizations. NPOs or not-for-profit organizations are those that are created for the welfare of the society. They intend to advance some social cause. For example charities, orphanages etc Accounting for NPOs becomes necessary as the trustees ofRead more
Yes, accounting is necessary even for not-for-profit organizations.
NPOs or not-for-profit organizations are those that are created for the welfare of the society. They intend to advance some social cause. For example charities, orphanages etc
Accounting for NPOs becomes necessary as the trustees of these institutions are liable to their members, the donors and the government. They discharge this function with documenting activities of the institution.
What is a not-for-profit organization?
A not-for-profit organization is an entity that undertakes charitable activities. These institutions do not have earning profit as their primary motive. Their focus is on extending social welfare.
Every not-for-profit organization usually has a group of trustees that are responsible for handling all its operations. These trustees are accountable to the members of the NPO.
A not-for-profit organization usually relies on donations and grants as its primary source of revenue. They do not charge the stakeholders to whom they extend their services or goods.
What does accounting for Not-for-profit organizations entail
The professionals undertaking accounting of not-for-profit organizations must have a significant knowledge of statutory provisions and accounting principles. Here is a brief overview of what accounting for a not-for-profit organizations entails
- Ensuring that the institution fulfills all the legal compliances necessary for it to continue functioning as a NPO.
- Documenting all the activities of the institution and ensuring that the NPO has the necessary permits to carry out those activities.
- Accounting for all the revenue receipts and expenses of the institution. The professional must keep in mind that the interests of the members and other stakeholders are not being subjected to any prejudice.
- In India, every NPO has to compulsorily prepare a receipt and payment account, income and expenditure account and a balance sheet. These have to be submitted to the Registrar of Societies before the due dates.

- Every professional undertaking the accounting of a not-for-profit organization must keep in mind that a single non-compliance or partial-compliance can result in the NPO losing out on its tax-exempt status.
- In the past there have been many instances when NPOs have been used for the purpose of money laundering or tax evasion.
- This has resulted in the government making the compliances for these institutions more stringent. The institutions are now required to be more transparent regarding their operations.
We can conclude that accounting is an indispensable requirements for not-for-profit organizations to be able to continue their operations and claim the statutory benefits that the government has extended to them.
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Tally ERP does not have a voucher for recording closing stock journal entries. It automatically calculates closing stock and reports it in the Profit and Loss account and Balance sheet. However, Tally do have vouchers through which you can adjust the closing stock to be shown at the end of the year.Read more
Tally ERP does not have a voucher for recording closing stock journal entries. It automatically calculates closing stock and reports it in the Profit and Loss account and Balance sheet.
However, Tally do have vouchers through which you can adjust the closing stock to be shown at the end of the year.
Explanation
Tally, as we know is an ERP which can automate many aspects of accounting like calculation of ledger balance, creation of trial balance, financial statements and other reports. Only the data entry in vouchers is done manually.
Tally also calculates closing stock automatically because it already has the required data to do so.
Closing stock = Opening stock + Purchase – Cost of goods sold.
Using the above formula, Tally automatically calculates the closing stock.
But it may happen that the closing stock as per Tally and closing stock as per physical verification of stock do not match.
This may be due to damaged caused to some items of inventory or even theft of inventory items which is usually discovered when stock is physically checked and counted at the end of the financial year.
In that case, we can use the Physical Stock voucher to correct our closing stock in Tally.
Physical Stock Voucher
A physical Stock voucher is an inventory voucher which is used to adjust the amount of closing stock as per the physical stock verified at the end of the year.
Suppose, if the closing stock for Bricks is 500pcs. Like in my stock summary, the item ‘Bricks’ is shown in the image below:
But after physical verification, it was found that there around there are only 450pcs of whole bricks are there. The rest of the bricks were broken.
To rectify this, we will open a Physical Stock voucher.
The steps to open a Physical stock voucher are as follows:
In Tally ERP 9 : Gateway of Tally → Accounting Vouchers → Press Alt + F10
In the physical stock voucher, we will select the stock item and enter the correct quantity, which is 450pcs.
After entering the details above, accept the voucher and open the stock summary again from Gateway of Tally. It will show the Bricks at 450pcs.
Hence, this is how we can adjust our closing stock in Tally.
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