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Reducing Your Centre’s Summer Losses
Summer presents a financial challenge to many centres as enrolments often decline when families make alternative care arrangements in July and August. Centres with school-age programs are most...
View ArticleTaxation of Employer Provided Childcare
We are often asked whether providing childcare to employees will result in a taxable benefit to the employees. As with many taxation issues the answer is not straightforward. Employer Provided...
View ArticleBoard Strategies for Dealing With Change
Recently, there has been a lot of material published on running efficient and effective boards in the not-for-profit environment. We have a few suggestions geared specifically to childcare centres:...
View ArticleEffective Fundraising
Many not-for-profit organizations raise funds from individual and corporate sponsors to augment grant and fee revenue. Before undertaking a fundraising venture the Board of Directors should identify...
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Refund of HST Paid
By now almost all not-for-profit childcare centres are aware of whether or not they are eligible for a partial refund of HST paid. All centres with registered charitable status are automatically...
View ArticleImproving Computer Security
Computers are now the most common medium used to store key and often highly confidential information about operations, programs and personnel. The computer has also replaced most manual accounting...
View ArticleA Treasurer’s Calendar of Events
JANUARY Assemble payroll information for T4/T4-A preparation FEBRUARY Final date for T4/T4A submission is month end Review monthly cash flow assumptions and adjust monthly cash flow forecast if...
View ArticleFinance Committees
Monitoring your organization’s systems for budgeting, record keeping, financial reporting and safeguarding assets is generally more than a volunteer Treasurer or full-time Executive Director can do or...
View ArticleFinancial management check list
What does the future hold in store? 1. Do you prepare an annual budget? 2. Is it prepared before the year starts? 3. Is it approved by the board? 4. Is it updated periodically? 5. Do you have a monthly...
View ArticleFinancial Warning Signs
Centres almost never get into financial difficulty overnight. Financial difficulty generally builds over many months. If financial difficulties come as a surprise then there has probably been a lack of...
View ArticleCollecting Parent Fees
Collecting parent fees is becoming increasingly difficult. Every increase in the Toronto Children’s Services user fee component of subsidy means centres with purchase of service agreements are...
View ArticleGuidelines and Procedures for Distribution of Childcare Wage Subsidies
We have recently commented at length on guidelines for calculation and distribution of pay equity grants. Childcare centres must continue to distribute their direct operating grant and wage enhancement...
View ArticleDeducting Childcare Expenses
Most parents are aware that there is some relief from the high cost of childcare through the deduction of childcare expenses from personal taxable income. Given that centre staff are often asked...
View ArticleWorkers’ Compensation and Other Long-term Disability Benefits
Most not-for-profit organizations in Ontario currently provide disability benefits for staff through either participation in the Ontario Workers’ Compensation Board (“WCB”) plan and/or through private...
View ArticlePay Equity Funding History
History of pay equity funding First, some background on pay equity funding is necessary. Funding received in 1994 by organizations adopting the proxy method was calculated at 3% of 1993 salaries. This...
View ArticleEmployer Obligations and Related Taxation Issues
We frequently receive questions regarding employer/employee relations. Many of the questions relate to the regulations governing not-for-profit employers. In this issue we will provide an overview of...
View ArticleAmendments to the Trustee Act (Ontario)*
*Written in 2000 Overview of the Changes and Some Practical Considerations for directors of charities [1] By: Brian Iler and Ted Hyland, Lawyers Iler, Campbell, Klippenstein On July 1, 1999, the...
View ArticleWSIB Departure Fee
Not-for-profit organizations with optional Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (“WSIB”) coverage must pay a sizable fee in order to withdraw from the plan. This departure fee came into effect in...
View ArticleOntario Pay Equity – Obligations and Implementation Issues
This article attempts to provide some clarity as to the rights and obligations of employers under the Pay Equity Act and the Pay Equity Amendment Act of 1993 (collectively referred to as “the Act”) and...
View ArticleLiving with Pay Equity
In this article we will address a number of issues that we deal with on a regular basis. Raise Pay Equity Target Rates Annually for Across the Board Wage Increases Pay equity target rates must be...
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Employee Benefits
Employers, especially those in the not-for-profit sector, often look for creative ways to remunerate staff. Non-cash benefits can fit the bill. It is important to understand the tax consequences of...
View ArticleInternal Control
This article is the first in a series describing how your Board of Directors can use internal controls to improve the financial efficiency of your childcare centre. Over the next few months we will be...
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The Art of Budgeting
The budgeting process is often intimidating because it is seen as being technical and time consuming. A budget for a not-for-profit organization need not be complex to be effective and can be prepared...
View ArticleControlling Your Cash Transactions
It is critical that you use all the resources of your organization as intended. In a childcare setting you want to ensure that all cash, food, supplies and other items are only used for childcare. Your...
View ArticleMaking the Most of Your Audit
Most of the incorporated not-for-profit organizations in Ontario are governed by either the Ontario Corporations Act or the Canada Corporations Act. Both pieces of governing legislation require that...
View ArticleFinancial Management in Times of Uncertainty
All organizations must deal with financial uncertainty. The key, as always, is to maximize the level of services provided given your financial resources. The fundamental restructuring of delivery and...
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Monthly Financial Reporting to Your Board
Clear financial reporting to the Board of Directors is essential for good financial management in any organization. Budgets and accurate day-to-day financial records are of limited use if the...
View ArticleMinimizing Government Funding Recoveries
All levels of government are taking more care to ensure that grant money is spent as intended. If your organization finds itself with unspent money at the end of a grant program there is a good chance...
View ArticleControl Over Branch Operations
Many not-for-profit organizations operating in multiple locations have branch networks. We are often asked what the “correct” accounting systems and controls are for an organization with several branch...
View ArticleRetention of Books and Records
An organization’s books and records are often costly and cumbersome to store. We frequently receive questions as to what must be kept and what can be discarded. This article summarizes the rules and...
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Merging Not-for-Profit Organizations
Mergers of not-for-profit organizations are becoming popular in the wake of funding cutbacks. Organizations often site the ability both to offer better and more comprehensive services and to reduce...
View ArticleUnderstanding Annual Financial Statements
To the uninitiated, annual financial statements can be confusing and intimidating. This article is intended to help financial statement readers understand the content and limitations of financial...
View ArticleRecognition of Revenue by Not-for-Profit Organizations
Regulations regarding recognition of revenue by not-for-profit organizations, effective since April 1, 1997, are complex and often misunderstood. Confusion can arise at the time annual financial...
View ArticleStopping Theft of Cash
Every now and then an event jars us into remembering how susceptible to theft many not-for-profit organizations are. Recently we were involved with a small not-for-profit organization that was shocked...
View ArticleAssessing and Managing Risk
Risk management is a hot topic in the commercial sector, especially in light of the recent losses of some multi-national corporations. Some significant lessons can be learned from these incidents and...
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Managing Your Financial Cushion
Good financial management is an essential ingredient for service delivery in the not-for-profit community. An important aspect of effective financial management is creating and maintaining a financial...
View ArticleFundraising Auctions
You can view the CRA Guidance on Fundraising documents in English at: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/plcy/cps/cps-028-eng.html and in French at:...
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Donation Receipt Requirements
For detailed and clearly written information on requirements for issuing chatitable receipts please go to the CRA Website at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/chrts/prtng/rcpts/menu-eng.html We have attached...
View ArticleRecovery of Late Filing Penalties
Even centres with excellent financial controls are sometimes late paying their monthly remittances to the Receiver General and/or filing T4 and T4A Summaries at year end. Penalties are generally...
View ArticleNot-for-Profit Filing Requirements
All corporations in Canada must file a tax or information return with Revenue Canada. Registered Charities must file a Charity Information Return (T3010) within six months of their year end. Failure to...
View ArticleTaxation of Employer Provided Childcare
We are often asked whether providing childcare to employees will result in a taxable benefit to the employees. As with many taxation issues the answer is not straightforward. Employer Provided...
View ArticleIssuing Receipts for Non-cash Charitable Donations
Many not-for-profit organizations are having to rely more heavily than ever before on donations as a key source of revenue. Organizations are becoming more creative in their efforts to both widen their...
View ArticleStatutory Filing Requirements for Not-for-Profit Organizations
There have been a number of new developments in statutory filing requirements for not-for-profit organizations. We are taking this opportunity to provide a brief update on the mandatory requirements...
View ArticleAdvantages and Disadvantages of Registered Charitable Status
We are often asked by Boards of community-based childcare centres whether or not they should try to obtain registered charitable status. This article points out some of the benefits and costs of having...
View ArticleAdvantages of Affiliated Charitable Foundations
Most not-for-profit organizations work toward accumulating a sufficient financial cushion to provide some security against unexpected financial difficulties. There is a strong and sometimes warranted...
View ArticleCharitable Organizations and Political Activities
You may find this article written in 1998 useful for background purposes. For more detail on Revenue Canada’s current position on political activities refer to the Revenue Canada policy paper at...
View ArticleUnderstanding Auditing and the Audit Process
Every organization incorporated without share capital under the Ontario Corporations Act and the Canada Corporations Act must have an audit. There is no statutory exemption from audit for...
View ArticlePrimer on Liability of Directors of Non-share Capital Corporations in...
by Ian Werker Barrister & Solicitor 393 University Avenue, Suite 2000, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1E6 e-mail: ian(at)werkerlaw.com Phone: (416) 593-7552 Fax: (416) 593-0668 January 29, 1996 Introduction...
View ArticleCulture Matters: How our culture affects the way we audit
Click here to download the paper Summary If the influence of national cultures on the implementation of global standards is not taken into account, the result will be inconsistent implementation at...
View ArticleAnatomy of a 12-hour ISA Audit
Click here to download the paper Summary This article provides guidance and encouragement to auditors who are considering entering the field of auditing micro-entities and those who want to increase...
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