United Way of America

There are numerous organizationsthat are present in our society, be it private, public or voluntary organizations but one thing that is common from these organizations is that they all have missions and goals set for them to achieve. This paper will be discussing an organization called United Way.

Volunteering is often seen as free labor. However, there is a significant cost associated with the recruitment, training, and maintenance of the volunteer force. A full-time staff to oversee the volunteer program is necessary as well to ensure volunteers are being used effectively. The recruitment process varies from advertising to speaking at schools to

There are 2 categories within the count sheltered, or living in homeless housing and unsheltered, meaning a car or tent, 18 individuals in the 2016 survey were considered unsheltered this count nearly doubled from the 10 unsheltered in 2015

United Way is a non-profit organization that helps improve the livelihood in local communities. I have been fortunate enough to see the impact United has provided from community donations and its funded agencies in El Paso. Hegel developed the Systems Theory in the 18th century and the best way to describe the organizations audience is in comparison to the organizations structure and function. University of Twente (2016) believes communication occurs among interdependent units that work together to adapt to an ever-changing environment. United Way of El Paso County strives address issues in areas of education, homelessness, and economical stability. I will talk about how the organization addresses these issues to their donors, agencies, and the families they support.

The effective use of IA departments causes less dependency and or reliance on external auditing. Ineffective use of this department can create reliability of the external audit firm, high costs for use of their services. Ideally, effective auditing should be done twice a year, consist of a short period of attendance; whereas, if it is possible for charities to have an internal auditing department, auditing will be carried out as often as every three months and the likelihood of any mismanagement of funds will be greatly reduced and this lead to gradual abolition. For effective IFC practices, various functions should be implemented to address each area so that effective operations are in place and at the same time reduce

The presentation from United Way was very informing. This was my first time hearing about the concept of Alice. The presentation for me opens my eyes up to what is happen in the Orleans Parish. The fact that 40% of households in the parish are struggling is shocking. The presenter mention something as to almost 700,000 individuals are struggling, and those are just the stats of 2013. I feel like it may now have a significant increase. However, I feel like the governor of Louisiana have neglected the citizens in this state. Bobby Jindal had the chance to help many of the individuals that are struggling; however, he turned his back on them when they need him the most. For instance, the only thing that is growing is low wages jobs that are not even near most of the housing.

In an article written by Susan Ellis she write the two reasons why the employees are resistant to the volunteers “First, whether conscious or not, too many staff have low expectations of the skills or qualifications of potential volunteers, and so design work posing minimal risk if not done properly. Second, volunteer projects are most often carved out of the daily (or periodic) activities of the paid staff, defining volunteers as “assistants” focused on the same goals and strategies as the employees” (Ellis). Both of the claims are flawed since they both lead to conflictions on both parties. The staff don’t want the volunteers to do all the little tasks because they seem to think that the volunteers will do it with a careless fashion. This is all connected because the work the volunteers do is somehow connected to the employees

It is the utmost concern of the leadership in the nonprofit to guide the organization through financial control. Through the guidance of the board of directors and officers, the organization aims to achieve its mission and vision. This accomplishment cannot be done without the strategic plan of financial control put into place by the leadership. It is important to set up internal controls and according to the Council of Nonprofits, financial management practices that are systematically used to prevent misuse and misappropriation of assets, such as occur through theft or embezzlement" (Council of Nonprofits, 2016). Leaders in the nonprofit world would do well to ensure they are following all the standards of best business practices and remaining accountable to the board, state, and

All nonprofit organizations (NPO) are required, by law, to have a board of directors who act as the governing body of the nonprofit. Board governance is the overall responsibility for the performance of the organization. Boards exist to ensure that a NPO runs properly, has integrity, protects its stakeholders, and assures competent management with evaluations that provide accountability for their actions and performance. The basic structure of a nonprofit is divided into governance and administration. A nonprofit board chair serves as the executive leader of the organization’s board, while the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the top staff administrator

As world business has changed dramatically during recent years, chargers of business entities, including Non-Profit entities, urged to find a perfect rules in order to enhance their competence within an excellent environment. To fulfill the requirement, the National Center for Non-Profit Board has issued a paper on "Ten Basic Responsibilities of Non-Profit Boards" to clarify the roles and responsibility of the board about 30 years ago. This regulation paper requires ten basic responsibilities including Determine the organization, Select the executive director, Support the executive and review his/her performance, Ensure effective organizational planning, Monitor and strengthen programs and services, Ensure adequate resources, Protect assets and provide financial oversight, Build a competent board, Enhance the organization’s public standing and Ensure legal and ethical integrity (Richard T. Ingram, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, Second Edition (BoardSource 2009). We will first introduce the Board of Director and purpose of Non-Profit Board of Director, then introduce all of ten responsibilities in detail and finally make extension about it.

Once the followers of a nonprofit organization realize that their CEO is unaware of finances, they might attempt to take advantage of the situation. This could allow embezzlers to go unnoticed. If followers see that the CEO is uninterested in accounting they might also take an attitude of indifference concerning accounting regulations. Establishing a culture of accountability is a key duty of a nonprofit CEO and by hiring a professional to help teach nonprofit accounting would help create a culture of accountability, and awareness around nonprofit accounting. Another way to ensure a nonprofit leader is a strong financial leader is by having an outside organization periodically audit a nonprofit’s records. Accurate record keeping can be a true indicator of a nonprofit organization’s leadership. If records are kept haphazardly the normal assumption would be the CEO is not providing strong leadership for the

For nonprofit organizations almost nothing is as important as ensuring ethical compliance and mission focus. This task starts with the board of directors and flows downward to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The first thing a nonprofit can do to ensure that the CFO is not engaging in fraud is to install a culture of internal controls. Internal controls are controls that firms have created to self-govern financial aspects of their organizations. These internal controls include segregation of duties, record keeping and communication.

Auditors have requirements and public expectations. Auditors are required to have a high level of technical competence, free from bias, and concern for the integrity of financial reports. Once serving the public, the public expects auditors to find fraud, require accounting principles, and be independent from management. It is important for auditors to be independent from the client company, otherwise they will lose public trust. Users believe that an auditor who own shares in a client company might mislead them into believing that the company condition

The aim of this essay is to study the function of external auditors in order to analyze why it is important to be independent. The primary mission of external auditors is to review and evaluate all the financial records of a company or corporation. They provide an objective opinion on the organization’s financial statement and effectiveness of the accounting polices in order to help management to make decisions. If the independence of the external auditors is impaired, the public will doubt the quality of professional auditing services, and the consequence would be very serious, just like the bankruptcy of Enron led to the disorganization of Arthur Andersen, once a giant accounting company in the world. In order to maintain and increase

Auditing as a profession as evolved drastically over decades and as time has passed auditing activities has expanded from performing specific assurance activities for management, to assisting and advising management with their specific business activities. The Institute of Internal Auditors define internal auditing as ‘”…an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organisation's operations. It helps an organisation accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.’ (Institute of Internal Auditors, 2013) Through this definition it can be explained why auditors can be