Foundation boards and their accountants often use different formats for financial statements. In 2007, a group of experienced foundation financial officers, CPAs, and attorneys developed a uniform financial reporting system as a model for any private foundation.

This uniform system can:

• Help your foundation prepare your Form 990-PF. The statements were created with the Form 990-PF in mind, so that financial information can be transferred easily.
• Help bookeepers, accountants, and others with little or no private foundation experience quickly learn the basic financial issues specific to private foundations.
• Allow private foundations to compare their expenses more accurately to those of other foundations, since more foundations will use a standard reporting system.

The primer also includes sample financial statements, including a statement of financial position, statement of activities, statement of cash flows, and notes to financial statements to help your foundation use system as seamlessly as possible.

13 pages