Cooking the Books
We have all heard the term ‘cooking the books’ and when we do, it almost always has a negative connotation. However, there may be times where this practice has its place. Many nonprofit organizations operate multiple programs and programs within programs. Sometimes similar programs are funded by the same organization, where others although similar, have different funders. Where it starts to become grey is when one program is over running its budget while the other has a surplus, which leads to the temptation to play with the expenditure coding in order to balance the bottom lines. Although funders may frown on such practices, I can tell you there is some legitimacy to this. For funders who are now jumping up and down, please hear me out as I provide some examples. We had two similar programs each with their own contract and each funded the same amount. Carrying out the services were a full time program coordinator and a full time program delivery officer each working somewhat equally i