Every now and then, someone asks me:
“Why bother with bookkeeping?”
It’s a fair question — especially for smaller charities or fast-growing organizations trying to juggle fifty things at once. Bookkeeping might seem like a background task, but when it’s done right (or wrong), the impact can be huge.
We’ve covered the basics before: missed input tax credits, improperly classified expenses leading to inflated profits (and higher tax bills), penalties for missed deadlines, and messy financials that give you bad insight and cause you to miss opportunities for cost-saving or growth.
But here’s something you don’t hear every day.
A Young Charity. A Big Year. And a Bigger Mess.
An acquaintance of mine reached out earlier this year. A relatively new charity — they had only started operations in June 2024 — but they had already done an impressive job of fundraising. By year-end, they had brought in over a million dollars in donation revenue.
Incredible achievement — but as is often the case with young organizations (I mean “young” in structure, not spirit!), their internal systems hadn’t caught up with their growth.
They were in survival mode, trying to make a real impact in their early stages. You can’t blame them for not having airtight accounting processes in place — after all, they didn’t even know they were legally required to undergo a public audit until May 2025, just weeks before it was due.
So guess who they call to help clean things up before the auditor arrives?
Yep — “they call Riz.” (Sorry, couldn’t resist. That’s the only plug — well, until the end maybe.)
The Ground Rules
I sat down with them to understand what needed to be done, and how best I could help in the limited time available. Given the charitable nature of their work, I wanted to keep costs low while still ensuring quality wasn’t compromised. So, I proposed a deal:
🔹 I wouldn’t do a full transaction-by-transaction cleanup. I’m a perfectionist, and unless I’m reviewing every line myself, I can’t sleep at night. So I told them — “You made those entries; you’re responsible for what you did.”
🔹 My job would be to ensure everything reconciles with the bank and that there are no surprises waiting for them when the public auditor takes a deep dive in a few weeks.
🔹 Lastly, I would only review revenue, not expenses. After all, they should know what they spent and why — their biggest concern right now was making sure all their donation revenue was accounted for.
They agreed. So we got to work.
The First Red Flag
I exported all their 2024 revenue data and got their complete bank statements. Like any other project, I started by organizing the bank statement — splitting transactions into revenue and expenses.
Then I drilled deeper into the revenue side, categorizing inflows from different sources:
- Cash
- Cheques
- E-transfers
- Bank/ATM deposits
- Online donations (via a well-known payment processor I won’t name — both for confidentiality and because I care about privacy).
After a few hours, I had everything neatly categorized into about 7–8 revenue streams.
Next, I turned to the books to spot-check if things looked reasonable.
Cash — tick.
Cheques — tick.
E-transfers — tick.
Online payments — hmm… wait… what’s this?
Something wasn’t adding up.
“The Math Ain’t Mathing”
For online revenue, they had transaction exports from the payment processor — but the totals weren’t lining up. I scanned across 10 to 12 columns of transaction data, thousands of rows, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.
I double-checked.
I triple-checked.
I reconfigured my Excel filters, data sorts, pivot tables — everything.
Nope. I hadn’t done anything wrong.
So I picked up the phone and gave them a call.
“Hey — I might have some surprising news for you. It could be a bug or error, but I really doubt it. You need to follow up with your payment processor immediately.”
They asked for details, and I told them straight:
“Your bank is missing nearly a quarter of the donation transactions your payment platform says you received.”
They were shocked. Rightfully so.
“How is that even possible?” they asked.
“Why hasn’t the payment processor informed us?”
What Most People Don’t Realize
Here’s the thing: I’ve seen this before — more times than I can count.
These platforms often don’t notify you unless you flag it. Even when you do, it’s not always easy to get their attention. I’ve seen them give incorrect information or delay responses until you show them undeniable proof.
Even then, all you may get is:
“Oh yes, you’re right.”
No apology. No explanation. Just a vague acknowledgment.
That’s the industry reality — not always, but often enough that I no longer get surprised by it.
The $126,000 Moment
Back to the story.
I advised the charity to escalate. Tell the processor they had a full data trail — transaction IDs, screenshots, logs (yes, even IP addresses — it sounds technical and official, right?).
At first, they were brushed off.
But when the charity followed up and said their internal auditor had logged all the discrepancies and would go public if needed, something shifted.
That’s when the payment processor finally responded.
“Yes, we’ve been holding back some funds — around $126,000 — and we’re working on releasing it in the next few days.”
Just. Like. That.
A Call I’ll Never Forget
A few days later, I got a call.
“Riz — you won’t believe it. You told us this might happen, and it did. They just confirmed — they’re releasing $126,000!”
I was stunned.
Imagine — their first year in operations, and halfway through the next year, they had no idea a six-figure sum was sitting in limbo.
All of it recovered through a simple audit, careful reconciliation, and a whole lot of Excel wizardry.
Final Thoughts
I don’t always get emotional about numbers, but this one hit differently. A hardworking, passionate group of people working toward a meaningful cause — and because of one deep dive, they got back the funds they had rightfully earned through their community’s trust and support.
I couldn’t be happier for them. I know those funds will go toward doing something good — and yes, good things do happen to good people.
So that’s the story. And I hope it serves as a reminder:
Even if your books “look fine”… even if no one’s complained…
a simple audit could change everything.
