Nonprofit Conference Offers Financial Professionals Time- and Money-Saving Services for Their Clients

By Kim C. Patterson

CPAs and other financial professionals are always looking for ways to increase productivity without investing more time. With corporations setting more aggressive financial objectives and benchmarks, financial professionals need ways to increase their company’s bottom line in a cost-efficient manner.

At the New York State Society of CPAs’ 24th Annual Nonprofit Conference on Jan. 24, Carolyn Sechler’s presentation, “Using Technology as a Leveraging Tool,” illustrated how financial professionals in the nonprofit sector can save time and money for their clients and firms by using technological-based programs. Sechler demonstrated how the Web could assist time-constrained financial professionals with responsibilities such as paying companies’ monthly bills or conducting a board meeting via the Web. According to Sechler, there are several websites that are capable of performing these types of services. They include the following:

Paymybills.com is a site that automatically pays a company’s monthly bills. The site is easy to use and has been programmed to handle various security and accounting issues. It also has procedures for obtaining a second signature for checks and can forward by e-mail a copy of a bill once the bill has been paid. A small nonprofit can use Paymybills.com to pay for expenses incurred from conferences, committees or task forces.

Mailersclub.com is a web-based printer and mail house. The site recognizes most Microsoft products such as Word, Excel, Access and Publisher. Instead of investing too much time writing copy and laying out a marketing piece, the logistics for an event can be forwarded to Mailersclub.com, where the company produces a quality brochure, invitation or postcard. Mailersclub.com can also handle the mailing of these materials and will inform their clients of incorrect addresses. Sechler said the company’s turnover rate for producing marketing pieces is fast and reliable.

E-Tapestry.com provides an inexpensive way to build and mange donations through its online fund-raising tools. The site can perform an analysis of gift calculations, send e-mails and faxes to donors, and be accessed throughout the world.
Yahoo Groups, which offers services primarily aimed at committee and volunteer work, enables a moderator to hold committee meetings online. To set up these meetings using Yahoo Groups, the moderator must be willing to invest some time; however, the time spent does not compare to the time saved when trying to schedule a meeting for a large number of committee members. Through Yahoo Groups, discussions can be held electronically, ideas and feedback can be posted, voting pools can be set up and calendars can be utilized. Sechler said the greatest challenge to the service is getting all participants to log in to the website to fully utilize its capabilities.

Companies with management information systems departments that want to ensure their data is never lost may want to consider signing up with Connected.com. The site is a remote back-up service, which saves computer information daily.
Pay Systems of America at www.psapayroll.com is an online payroll service that allows professionals to perform payroll, issue W2s and set up employee benefit programs via the Web.

According to Sechler, the fee for most of these services ranges between $9 and $15 a month.

Online Bill Paying—www.paymybills.com
Online Printer and Mail House— www.mailersclub.com
Online Fundraising—www.etapestry.com
Virtual Committees—www.groups.yahoo.com
PC Data Protection—www.connected.com
Online Accounting—http://www.psapayroll.com