{"id":1738,"date":"2020-02-12T14:02:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T03:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:11:09","slug":"dimensional-accounting-not-for-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/dimensional-accounting-not-for-profit\/","title":{"rendered":"Dimensional accounting can convince donors and support your not-for-profit mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/category\/technology-innovation\/today\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Today\u2019s tech<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDimensional accounting can convince donors and support your not-for-profit mission\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2020-02-12T14:02:39+11:00\">February 12, 2020<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"Dimensional accounting can convince donors and support your not-for-profit mission\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/dimensional-accounting-not-for-profit\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/author\/bruceminty\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/Bruce-Minty-1-350x350.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/Bruce-Minty-1-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/Bruce-Minty-1.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 40px) 100vw, 40px\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Bruce Minty<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Running a not-for-profit organisation is certainly no picnic. You\u2019ve got the challenges for-profit businesses to deal with, such as increasing revenue, consolidating across multiple entities, budgeting, implementing internal controls, and facilitating audits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But you also face maximum scrutiny from regulators and watchdogs, with financial irregularities potentially causing disastrous hits to your reputation and fundraising efforts. Donors and partners will expect your not-for-profit organisation to be unimpeachable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your stakeholders or donors will require accurate reports to keep financial tabs on their investment. You may need to show donors exactly where their resources have gone, which means isolating activity for each revenue source to create a series of specific reports with unique requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fortunately, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cloud-enabled financial management technology<\/a>, there are ways to make your job as a non-for-profit CFO and your finance team\u2019s roles more manageable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why traditional accounting is too complex<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One big problem for not-for-profit organisations is the way conventional accounting systems work. Traditionally, with accounting systems, you produce a chart of accounts (CoA) that has thousands of unique account numbers, as they are forced to use a hard-coded structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result you end up with a long list of account codes. To make matters even worse, you\u2019ll need to create potentially hundreds of additional accounts every time you want to add a new location, department, or program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unless your not-for-profit organisation wants to create a sophisticated and unwieldy chart of accounts, you won\u2019t be able to create reports to track all the transactions you create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why should you use dimensional accounting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">modern cloud-based financial management solutions<\/a>, you can use a table-driven architecture that allows you to structure both your financial and operational data through logic-based dimensions. You can manage your general ledger using dimensions, which in turn makes it much easier to set up and use your chart of accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dimensions remove the overhead associated with complex, multi syntax chart of account structures. You can define dimensions \u2013 such as department, location, grant or project and tag transactions, enabling powerful reporting against both operational and financial data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">CFO 3.0 \u2013 Digital Transformation beyond Financial Management<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Download our whitepaper to learn:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The key trends driving the digitalisation of the finance industry<\/li>\n<li>How and why the role of the CFO is changing<\/li>\n<li>Why the CFO is key to driving digital transformation<\/li>\n<li>How Millennials are influencing adoption of new technology<\/li>\n<li>What keeps CFOs up at night \u2013 the 5 roadblocks to digital transformation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-9705cb3b-5312-41c8-881a-67c05a42aecc\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download Whitepaper<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1064\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/resize-1675x1275-109-1064x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/resize-1675x1275-109-1064x810.jpg 1064w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimensional accounting keeps things simple<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dimensional accounting keeps things simple for your not-for-profit organisation as you only need to set up primary account codes. Whenever you set new locations, funds or programs, you don\u2019t need to add hard-coded segment combinations to create account numbers. Dimensions can work for any transaction \u2013 the general ledger, receivables, payables, time, revenue management, fixed assets and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimensional accounting helps you quit the spreadsheet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a dimensional chart of accounts means your not-for-profit organisation won\u2019t need to pull information out of your accounting system and spend time manipulating it into a spreadsheet. The benefit being that through your system of record you can track performance closely and retrieve information instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can compare dimensions within a chart of accounts to how hashtags work on Twitter. You can search and sort data for reporting with meaningful context. If you can tag transactions with dimensions, you can slice and dice data to produce financial reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can filter dimensions when you need reports, allowing you to show the exact information you need in the right format. If you save these filters and the format settings, you can repeatedly create the reports you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimensional accounting helps you provide more insightful financial analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With a dimensional chart of accounts, you can organise information by the attributes that matter most for your not-for-profit organisation\u2019s mission, empowering you to perform the meaningful analysis of your performance. With multi-dimensional analysis, you can increase visibility by, for example, enabling drill downs from a BI dashboard, providing granular transaction details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With dimensions you can analyse financial performance across multiple entities through the power of real-time dashboards. By tagging projects in transactions, you can analyse business performance project by project. You can quickly compare expenses and revenue between programs and locations, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Adding operational context to improve visibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not-for-profit organisations with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the right cloud management software<\/a> can take advantage of statistical features that allow you to bring on-financial operational data into your financial reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Traditional general ledgers provide the information needed to create generally accepted accounting principle (GAAP) reports, but if you enhance the general ledger with non-GAAP statistical data, not-for-profit organisations can also track and report on operational outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can create contextually rich reporting that includes critical outcome and performance metrics by applying dimensions to the operational data. This contextually rich reporting increases the overall visibility and provides organisational decision-makers with a complete picture of performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimensional reporting increases donor transparency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you combine financial performance data with real-world outcome metrics, you can produce reports that show the successes you are having with your mission. With multi-dimensional analysis, you can increase your transparency and visibility for your donors. You can tell donors the complete story of your not-for-profit organisation\u2019s impact by bringing together financial, operational, and impact data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For a not-for-profit organisation, dimensional accounting provides:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reduced complexity and higher efficiency in transactional data entry<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The ability to slice and dice reports without spreadsheets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Better decision making with real-time analysis<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Broader and deeper financial visibility, with greater operational context<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Increased transparency for donors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Better visibility into the impact of your mission<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To take advantage of the power of multi-dimensional accounting, organisations need to use a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">modern cloud financial management solution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only will dimensional accounting greatly simplify the lives of your finance team, but it will also empower you with greater insight, helping your organisation support its mission and build a story to compel existing and future donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">CFO 3.0 \u2013 Digital Transformation beyond Financial Management<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Download our whitepaper to learn:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The key trends driving the digitalisation of the finance industry<\/li>\n<li>How and why the role of the CFO is changing<\/li>\n<li>Why the CFO is key to driving digital transformation<\/li>\n<li>How Millennials are influencing adoption of new technology<\/li>\n<li>What keeps CFOs up at night \u2013 the 5 roadblocks to digital transformation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-9705cb3b-5312-41c8-881a-67c05a42aecc\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download Whitepaper<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1064\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/resize-1675x1275-109-1064x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/resize-1675x1275-109-1064x810.jpg 1064w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-20ec4af6-53dd-41ab-81ed-95d438e3bb90\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1064\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-626184462-1064x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-626184462-1064x810.jpg 1064w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Running a not-for-profit organisation is certainly no picnic. You\u2019ve got the challenges for-profit businesses to deal with, such as increasing revenue, consolidating across multiple entities, budgeting, implementing internal controls, and facilitating audits. But you also face maximum scrutiny from regulators and watchdogs, with financial irregularities potentially causing disastrous hits to your reputation and fundraising efforts. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":832,"featured_media":567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,92],"tags":[138,248,253,141,166],"business_type":[9],"context":[],"industry":[120],"persona":[101,102],"imagine_tag":[69,252,34,31],"coauthors":[278],"class_list":["post-1738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology-innovation","category-today","tag-business-management","tag-cfo","tag-cfo-3-0","tag-cloud","tag-making-financial-decisions","business_type-medium-sized-business","industry-non-profit"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-au","author_name":"Bruce Minty","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-902210528.jpg","imagine_tags":{"69":"Business management","252":"CFO 3.0","34":"Financial services","31":"Non profit"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Australia","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/832"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}