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Effective Accounting Systems

SFAs must consider the following financial management standards in developing a financial management system:

Accounting System Qualities

  1. Documentation that demonstrates accurate, current, an complete disclosure of the program's financial transactions - including budgeted authorizations, obligations, unobligated balances, assets, liabilities, and expenditures as well as income or revenue;
  2. Procedures that ensure that no one person has complete control over all aspects of financial transactions;
  3. Methodology that allows for the comparison of actual expenditures against budgeted amounts.

Accounting Practices

  1. Procedures that ensure that all costs are necessary, reasonable, allocable, and allowable;
  2. Procedures that track the source of funds;
  3. Procedures that track the allocation or planned use of funds;
  4. Procedures that track the application or use of funds;
  5. Procedures that track the person who authorized the use of funds to pay expenses.

Audit Practices

  1. Procedures that require organization-wide audits, or program specific audits if applicable, to determine, at a minimum, the fiscal integrity of financial transactions and reports, compliance with laws, regulations, and administrative requirements;
  2. Procedures that ensure that there is a systemic method for assuring timely and appropriate resolution of all audit findings and recommendations, including organization-wide strategies.

 

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USDA Nondiscrimination Statement

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

  1. mail:
    U.S. Department of Agriculture
    Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
    1400 Independence Avenue, SW
    Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
  2. fax:
    (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
  3. email:
    Program.Intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Click here for Nondiscrimination Statement translations.

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