More about Curtis Klotz
Curtis Klotz is a CPA serving as director of nonprofit innovation at CLA. His writing is inspired by his work in CLA’s nonprofit consulting and business operations practice and more than 30 years of industry experience. Before joining CLA, Curtis was vice president of finance and CFO at Propel Nonprofits, where he was a frequent online contributor to Nonprofit Quarterly and other blogs. He was named Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s Nonprofit CFO of the Year in 2017, and is past chairperson of the Montana Nonprofit Association. Curtis graduated summa cum laude from St. Olaf College with majors in women’s studies and religion.
Blog Posts by Curtis Klotz:
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Elegant Reporting in Nonprofit Accounting
The whole point of designing an elegant accounting system is to produce elegant reports – useful, cogent information to help us make decisions, inspire our staff, build trust among our stakeholders, and align our use of resources to meet our mission goals.
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What’s the Right Price for Nonprofit Mission?
Presenting a line-item budget to a potential funder is the equivalent of pricing the work at cost. It reduces the value of the work and the important mission it represents to time and materials. The danger of representing a nonprofit financial story this way is that we too often do an incomplete job of capturing the true costs associated with the work.
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Finally! Clarity for Nonprofits around Tax Provisions
Thanks to Karen Gries, Principal in CLA’s nonprofit tax practice, for summarizing recent changes in laws affecting nonprofit tax.
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Elegant Allocations in Nonprofit Accounting
The point of taking the time to design an elegant accounting system is not only simplicity, it is power – decision-making power. For nonprofits, we strengthen our decision making when we can see the whole truth about our programs and their finances.
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Nonprofits, Choose Your Auditors Well
Choosing the right auditors is one of the most important decisions a nonprofit and its financial leaders must make.
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Elegant Chart of Accounts: Simple Can Be Sophisticated
The goal is to develop a chart of accounts that remains as simple as possible while still capturing all of the information necessary for you to run your nonprofit well and to successfully share the story of your organization’s financial health.
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Strategy Meets Standards In Nonprofit Accounting
While being accurate and responsible with our accounting is important, nonprofits can make more powerful use of new accounting standards if they learn to use them strategically.
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Elegant Cost Centers
To build toward financial elegance, start with the broadest view of your organization and work inward. All nonprofits have a mission and a corresponding mission statement. The way your organization goes about its work, and the financial systems it sets up to support its work, should flow directly from that mission.
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Elegant Financial Systems: Principles and Practice
CLA is launching our new Innovation in Nonprofit Finance Blog with a series of pieces on both the principles and practice of elegant design in nonprofit accounting systems.