How to create and check a nonprofit income and expense report

Why is checking the bank balance alone not enough?

Consider a small nonprofit supporting one person through ongoing therapy. Donations arrive in one month; travel bills and an older invoice are paid in another. The bank statement tells you what is in the account, but by itself it cannot explain which need a donation was meant for, how the organization categorizes an expense, which project used the money or whether the associated invoice has been saved and connected to the transaction.

An internal income and expense report answers a different question: which financial entries have we recorded in TidyOne, within which dates, in which currency and for which purpose? Combined with receipts, invoices and bank records, it helps a small team identify gaps before preparing an explanation for the accountant, supporters or trustees.

What you will have at the end

Before you start: define what you are reporting

Check that the Association workspace and the correct organization are active. In single-beneficiary mode, the primary beneficiary is the default context; there is no need to select the same person for every report. To review your entire organization, begin with All projects and All funds. Selecting a specific project narrows the report to that project; it no longer shows all organizational activity.

Keep the bank statements for the relevant period, donation records from other channels and supporting files at hand. Use custom dates for a period that crosses a year boundary. If you need the entire history of a fundraising campaign, select the campaign's start date through to your reporting date, not simply the current month.

How to create an income and expense report, step by step

Step 1 — Open Reports and select “Accounting report”

From your Association workspace, open Reports and select Accounting report from the Report type dropdown. This is the existing route to the operational financial view; there is no separate button called “Income and expense report” in the version described here. Annual and project reports use overlapping source records, but they are designed for different presentations and questions.

Step 2 — Set the exact reporting period

Under Period, choose the current year, previous year or Custom. For a quarter, for example, enter the first and last day of those three months in the From and To date fields. Select Update report. Changing a filter is not enough on its own: the data must be regenerated for the new selection.

Always state your period when sharing a summary. “Income of RON 20,000” has little meaning without dates. If your TidyOne report and bank statement cover different periods, reconcile the overlapping dates only rather than trying to force the totals together.

Step 3 — Start with all projects and all funds

For an organization-wide report, keep the filters on All projects and All funds. Once you have checked the overall amounts, run separate versions for individual purposes such as Therapy or Transport. Save separate exports if you need to share a general overview and a project-specific report.

A transaction with no linked project may appear in the overall report but will not be included when you filter narrowly to one specific project. That is why you should check project assignments before relying on a project comparison, particularly where donations have a stated purpose.

Step 4 — Understand the headline figures

At the top, TidyOne displays Income, Expenses and their difference for each currency. The current reporting code groups transactions using their recorded type and currency; it does not automatically convert EUR into RON. If you received RON 5,000 and EUR 300, you should see two separate currency amounts rather than one invented combined number.

The displayed difference means recorded income less recorded expenses for the current report scope. It does not automatically incorporate an opening bank balance, prove the unrestricted availability of purpose-specific donations or replace a bank statement. A negative result for the current month may simply reflect bills paid from donations received in earlier months.

Step 5 — Examine the category tables

Further down, the financial section groups entries by category, project and currency. Check whether sponsorships are classified separately from other income, whether therapy expenses belong to the intended project and whether a manually added travel expense was left under a broad category such as “Other”. These are useful clues when your internal figures look different from what you expected.

Do not merely change a category name in a narrative explanation to make the report look right. Correct the underlying transaction in the application, then update the report. That way the next person using the same dates will see the corrected source data too.

Step 6 — Check the supporting documents

The data-quality section shows expenses with a linked document, documents analyzed by AI and documents not yet analyzed. An invoice that exists somewhere in Documents is not enough to make an expense count as supported in this indicator. The document must actually be linked to the relevant transaction. If an expense appears without a supporting file, find its original invoice and check that link before uploading another copy.

The detail section lists at most the first 100 expenses without a linked document for the current selection. If you have more, review the remaining entries by narrowing the period and checking the source records. AI analysis is not required merely to store a file, but report-critical numbers must still be checked against their originals.

Step 7 — Review project funds and donor information

The fund table shows inflows and outflows during the selected period. Its “Available” figure is the difference for that period, not necessarily the total that has accumulated since the fund began. To see the history of a fund for a medical procedure, widen your date range back to the beginning and separately check account balances and unpaid commitments.

The donor count is built from contacts marked as donors or sponsors and linked to the income entries within your selection. Anonymous or unlinked donations may contribute to income without appearing in the donor count or donor table. Do not guess an identity simply to make the donor statistics match the number of donations.

Step 8 — Reconcile against bank records

Compare each currency separately. Look for a donation that arrived but was never recorded, an invoice added both manually and by AI, a payment for an invoice dated in another month, bank fees, transfers between accounts or an entry with the wrong transaction date. TidyOne summarizes what is in its operational records; do not assume that every bank movement has been imported automatically.

If the account opened the period with RON 4,000 and the operational report shows a positive difference of RON 1,500, that does not prove by itself that the closing bank balance is RON 5,500. Check bank statements, transfers and other movements. Your accountant determines the appropriate statutory presentation and classification under the rules that apply to your organization.

Step 9 — Export only after checking the selection

After updating and reviewing the report, you can use PDF / Print, Transactions CSV and Accounting ZIP if your organization has the export entitlement included with Association PRO. The basic report remains viewable on FREE. For PDF, use your browser's print dialog and choose a PDF destination if available. CSV contains the selected transactions, while the ZIP includes CSV files, a JSON summary and document files the browser can retrieve.

The ZIP includes up to 250 binary document files from your selection. More documents may still be recorded in the CSV list even when their original files are not included in that ZIP. Open and check the archive before sending it. If you choose Generate AI draft, review and edit the resulting narrative; do not present unverified figures or claims as an official report.

Worked example: one nonprofit, two months and two currencies

This fictional example shows why a period-wide report is different from a monthly report. A single-beneficiary nonprofit tracks two projects: Therapy and Transport. Every number below is illustrative, not a real organization's accounts.

For August alone, the RON difference is RON 2,500. For September, it is negative RON 800. Across both months, it is positive RON 1,700. The EUR 400 must remain separate unless a documented exchange rate is applied for a separate purpose. To establish the actual money held in bank accounts, reconcile the opening balance and real movements, including transfers and fees.

Checklist before someone else relies on the report

Common mistakes and what to do

The organization total looks too low after I select a project

The project filter limits which transactions are included. Return to “All projects”, choose “Update report” and compare individual projects only after checking the general overview. An entry with no project cannot appear under a specific project selection.

The invoice exists in Documents, but the expense is listed as unsupported

Check the document-to-transaction link and the dates used in your report. Uploading a PDF from the same supplier does not necessarily link it to the correct financial record.

Our campaign raised RON 20,000, but the report only shows RON 3,000

Check your date range and the project and fund filters. You may be viewing only this month's inflows rather than the entire campaign. Select the complete campaign period, then compare it with your bank and donation records.

The number of donors does not match the number of donations

One person may make several donations, and some income records have no linked donor contact. The metric counts eligible contacts associated with income entries, not the number of donation transactions.

The report is negative even though there is money in the bank

The report shows the difference between entries in the selected period. Your bank balance may include an opening balance and movements not recorded or not included in the current selection. Reconcile rather than changing numbers arbitrarily.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a separate “Income and expense report” button?

Not in the version described here. Use “Accounting report” and its income-by-category and expense-by-category sections. Set your dates and keep all projects and funds selected for an organization-wide view.

Can I report on six months rather than a single month?

Yes. Set “Period → Custom”, enter the start and end dates and update the report. Unlike the monthly-report tutorial, this guide is intended for any reporting interval.

Can RON and EUR appear in the same report?

Yes, as separate amounts. TidyOne does not automatically merge different currencies into one total; follow your accountant's guidance where official reporting requires currency conversion.

Can I send the report directly to a funder?

It can be a useful starting point once verified. For contractual reporting, follow the funder's required format, dates, documents and eligibility rules. TidyOne does not automatically certify whether an expense is eligible under a grant.

What if a medical document contains sensitive information?

Check who is authorized to see the document and whether it is necessary for the specific recipient. Sharing a financial report does not automatically require you to include every medical document in the archive.

Continue with these related guides

Important: If your nonprofit holds funding with special reporting obligations, check the agreement and national requirements before submitting an external report. TidyOne helps organize and check internal data; it does not replace professional accounting or mandatory national filings.