Fake, Inc. — A Complete Nonprofit Financial Model
A full-year, GAAP-compliant fictional accounting workbook built to demonstrate how I think, reconcile, and communicate as an accountant
Numbers on a page don’t tell you much on their own. Real financial information can be hard to get your hands on, hard to grasp, and may bring up more questions than answers. This was the reasoning behind building this fake company with key tabs that explain core accounting processes. This company is showing transactions for the full fiscal year, but the processes reflect work that is done month after month. Similar workbooks should be produced at the end of every month, not just at year-end.
This project is a complete, self-consistent set of books for Fake, Inc., a fictional international development nonprofit. Every employee, salary, grant, vendor, and dollar figure is invented–but the mechanics underneath are real. There are GAAP-compliant depreciation schedules, PTO accruals tied to actual employee headcount, restricted vs. unrestricted net asset tracking, indirect cost allocation, and a Trial Balance that adheres to the accounting equation. It’s a deep dive, but the visible tabs are for the non-financial layperson to get a picture of what’s happening.
Cash Flow Forecast
A twelve-month rolling cash forecast built from known recurring expenses and expected revenue–hover over any point for the exact ending balance.
Variance by Department
Actual spending against approved budget, by month, across all departments — the first thing a board usually wants to see.
Variance by Program
The same comparison, viewed by program instead of department — this is where operational decisions live, and where a COO or CEO would want to dig in.
How I’d use this in the room
The Cash Flow Forecast tab is of interest to board members want to know if the organization is going to run out of money, specifically. Some organizations that are on shaky ground need to know how much runway they have, how many months of cash they have to pay a standard month’s bills, and whether or not a line of credit is a good option to use at the moment. This is the tool for them. It’s a tool that is limited to cash and operating activities.
Other tools that management will find useful are variance reports, in broad and granular form. Variances basically inform whether the company is spending what it said it would. In a 1:1 with a CEO or COO, I’d go deeper into Variance by Program, since that’s where full administrative expenses live, compared to the full program-line expenditure. For a program manager who oversees the (fictional) Sub-Saharan Africa program, for example, I would share the Variance by Cost Center report, which shows line-by-line differentials between actual spending and what was budgeted for that particular program. With an auditor, I’d start at the Trial Balance and walk backward: every balance traces to a schedule, every schedule traces to a documented assumption, and every assumption is labeled as exactly that — an assumption, not a fact dressed up as one.
Explore the full workbook
This project is best explored directly. Every tab, every formula, every reconciliation is real and functional.
A note on the data: every employee name, salary, grant, vendor, and dollar figure in this workbook is fictional, built for demonstration purposes only.