About Form 990

As part of the 990 In 2000 Project the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) at the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Independent Sector, Support Center for Nonprofit Management/San Francisco are co-sponsoring a unique guide to the Form 990 and other nonprofit reporting—Unified Financial Reporting System for Not-For-Profit Organizations: A Comprehensive Guide to Unifying GAAP, IRS Form 990, and other Financial Reports of Not-For-Profit Organizations Using a Unified Chart of Accounts.

The reporting system proposed by Unified Financial Reporting System serves three purposes:

• Improving the quality of financial reporting by nonprofit organizations;
• Reducing the costs and other burdens of financial reporting to multiple users; and
• Strengthening the accountability and public trust in the nonprofit sector.

Unified Financial Reporting System provides a conceptual framework and design for a comprehensive reporting system.

It unites reporting requirements for:

• Uniform federal/state Form 990
• Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statements of Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 116 & 117
• AICPA's Audit & Accounting Guide for Not for Profit Organizations
• OMB Circular A-122 for nonprofit grant recipients
• Standards of Accounting and Financial Reporting for Voluntary Health and Welfare Organizations co-sponsored by the National Health Council and the National Assembly
• United Way of America's accounting and budgeting guides
• Other nonprofit accounting standards and guides

With Unified Financial Reporting System as a reference tool, nonprofit organizations and their accounting software providers will be able to enhance their software to produce all of the above reports.