A nonprofit CPA's read of any Form 990
Your Form 990 says more about your nonprofit than your board knows.
Upload any 990, your own or a grantee's. You get a plain-English report written the way a nonprofit CPA reads the return: where the money really went, what a funder would flag, and the three questions to ask before anyone signs off.
$79 for a 990-EZ, $149 for a full Form 990 or 990-PF, $179 for a pre-filing review. Board packs billed yearly; firm plan at $399 a month.
Prepared by R.S. McDuffie CPA & Associates. Clean reports come back within the hour. Any report with a red flag is read by a licensed CPA before it is released, within one business day.
Summary
$10.4M in revenue against $9.9M in expenses, so the year ended about $566,000 ahead. Spending was 86.8% program, 10.4% management, 2.7% fundraising. The pressure is not on the spending side: it is that half the money came from one funder and the public support percentage dropped 14 points in a single year.
Findings
Needs attention: Public support fell from 49.9% to 35.4% in one year, about two points above the one-third floor a public charity has to hold.
Watch: One foundation gave about $5.2M, roughly half of all revenue for the year. Cash on hand covers about 3.5 months.
In good shape: Program spending was 86.8% of expenses, and the return reports an independent board with conflict of interest, whistleblower and compensation review policies in place.
Questions for the board
- What is the plan to widen the donor base before public support drops below the one-third floor?
- Does our largest funder have a multi-year commitment, and what happens to the budget if that grant shrinks?
- How much of our restricted cash is expected to be released for general operations in the next twelve months?
The 990 is public. The reading of it is not.
Anyone can download a Form 990. Almost nobody outside a CPA's office can tell you what it means: whether the expense allocation would survive an audit, how close you are to failing the public support test, or which single line a program officer will circle before a grant decision.
- Reads every schedule, not just page one
- Compares to the prior year wherever the filing allows
- Written for board members, not accountants
- Any report with a red flag is read by a licensed CPA before it goes out
What does your 990 communicate about your organization?
Financial clarity
Understand your revenue sources and how your spending is presented on the return, in language you can repeat out loud.
Board oversight
See the questions worth discussing before your board approves a return or relies on one.
Funding conversations
Be ready to explain the financial story your filing tells, before a program officer reads it.
How it works
- Step 1
Choose the review that fits
Pick the option that matches your return, whether it is a 990-EZ, a full 990 or 990-PF, a draft before filing, or a yearly board pack.
- Step 2
Pay and upload the return
Checkout comes first, then you upload the PDF with its schedules. You get a private status link right away, and an account so you can come back to it.
- Step 3
Receive the report
Clean reports come back within the hour, often in minutes. Anything that raises a red flag is read by a licensed CPA before it reaches you, within one business day.
What you receive
One report your board can actually read
A PDF written in plain English: a short summary of what the return shows, the findings worth discussing, and three questions to take into your next meeting. Coverage depends on the form filed, the schedules included and the information you provide, so not every section applies to every return.
Three people who order a Second Look
Consultants and grant writers are a fourth. They order on behalf of clients, and the report can carry their name.
The board member
You are legally responsible for the return you are asked to approve. You have never had time to read it. Now you do not need to.
See the review optionsThe funder
Before wiring a grant, you want to know what the grantee's 990 says beneath the summary. One upload, one page, one decision.
See the plan for fundersThe executive director
You want to see your own return the way a foundation will, before they do, and fix what can be fixed before the next filing.
See the pre-filing reviewPricing
Choose the review that fits your return
One return, one report. Pick the form you filed, or send the draft before it is filed.
Form 990-EZ review
$79
per return
For a smaller organization's filed 990-EZ, when you want to know what it says.
- For smaller organizations filing the EZ
- Full report in PDF, usually within the hour
- Any red flag is read by a licensed CPA first, within one business day
Full Form 990 or 990-PF review
$149
per return
For a filed full Form 990, or a private foundation's 990-PF.
- The full return with all schedules
- Private foundation returns on Form 990-PF at the same price
- Full report in PDF, usually within the hour
- Any red flag is read by a licensed CPA first, within one business day
Pre-filing review
$179
per draft return
For a draft your preparer produced, before it is signed or e-filed.
- Your preparer's draft, checked before it is signed or e-filed
- A question list to send back to the preparer
- One-page board summary with the three questions to ask before approving
Want the same read every year, or reviews for many grantees? The pricing page has all six options, including the board packs and the plan for foundations, grant writers and consultants.
See all pricing optionsWho reviews your return
"I have watched boards approve a 990 in four minutes that took my team forty hours to prepare. They are not careless. Nobody ever showed them how to read it. That is the job I am doing here."
Rolanda S. McDuffie, CPA
Founder, R.S. McDuffie CPA & Associates and The Nonprofit CPA. Prepares Form 990s for nonprofits nationwide and teaches nonprofit finance for the Small Business Development Center.
How the review works
The analysis follows the same checklist the firm uses on every 990 it prepares. Any report that raises a red flag is read by a licensed CPA before you see it, and every report can be replied to. This is analytical commentary, not an audit, review, attestation, or tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for preparing or filing your return.
Questions
Is this an audit or a review under professional standards?+–
No. It is an analytical reading of a filed or draft Form 990, written for non-accountants. It does not express an opinion on financial statements and is not a substitute for an audit, review, or compilation.
Can I upload someone else's 990?+–
Yes. Filed 990s are public documents. Funders, journalists, consultants, and prospective board members do this routinely.
What if the report finds a real problem?+–
It will say so clearly and explain what the problem usually means. You can reply to the report to talk with the firm about fixing it, whether that is an amended return, a reinstatement, or cleaning up the books before next year.
Do you accept draft 990s before filing?+–
Yes, and that is the best time to order one. There is a standalone pre-filing review at $179 for a single draft, and the Board pack includes one every year.
What formats work?+–
PDF of the return, including all schedules. If you only have an EIN, enter it on the upload step with no file attached and we pull the organization's most recent public filing from the IRS e-file record. Where the IRS record carries the totals, the report uses the IRS's own figures rather than numbers read off the PDF.