Many of us work with visionaries. You know the type of person I mean: he has a great idea for increasing environmental awareness, she wants to build a treatment center for adolescent boys newly diagnosed with severe behavioral disabilities. Nothing will dissuade them from realizing their dreams. They are focused, charismatic, determined, and persuasive.



As you work with them in running the organization, it may seem that what we accountants have to offer is insignificant to them. Yet some founding executives understand that accurate accounting and reliable, timely financial reporting are essential to realizing their vision. I've been fortunate to work with a few executive directors like this. Following are some characteristics of good working relationships between program-oriented leaders and nonprofit finance managers.

The founding visionary wants strong, functioning systems in place. She supports you in setting up systems of internal control and understands that you need to test them periodically. It makes sense to her that complete information about transactions should be captured as soon as they occur. Executive directors like this understand that there are ways to minimize the time people spend hunting for missing information or correcting data that was posted wrong in the accounting system.

The visionary understands that accurate reports are built on lots of data and supports your efforts to catch errors early in the process. When systems are thoughtfully designed and function well, transactions are approved and coded timely. Journal entries, accounts payable and accounts receivable entries are proofed and corrected before they are entered.

The visionary - aka executive director - includes you in the management team, understanding that when you're clued in about program progress, new strategies, grant applications, and plans for the future, your ability to serve the organization is greatly enhanced.

The visionary nonprofit executive director supports you in spending the time it takes to design systems that will capture transactions at the grant level because he cares about accurate reporting to grantors or contract-funders. He will also support you by being willing to spend a little money so you can get the consulting help and the training you'll need for yourself and your staff. And he is interested in increasing his skill at reading and understanding the monthly reports you prepare.

Many not-for-profit organizations I've worked with have cultures that are primarily reactive (as opposed to proactive), which contributes to increased stress at work. Accountants can begin to shift the organizational culture toward the proactive, creating a healthier work environment as they set up systems and stick to them. For example, to change the expectation that you will cut a check any time someone asks, you can institute a policy of cutting checks one day a week, and then turn down requests to provide them on any other day. Or you can require that employee requests for reimbursement be submitted by a certain time after month-end and refuse reimbursement of any costs that are turned in late. Executive directors who support you in this effort, even when employees grumble about it, are real gems.

If you work for someone like this, appreciate it! If your working relationship isn't quite this supportive, you can attempt to improve it. Initiate a discussion about the advantages of including you in management meetings. Request regular one-on-ones with the visionary leader, creating an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the organization's progress toward its goals. Experiment with new ways to convey your message - perhaps through translating it into graphs. Who knows? With a bit of patience and a willingness to try new approaches, you may just manage to create your dream job!