For years, nonprofit Executive Directors have chased a myth: the rockstar employee.

You know the profile. It’s the mythical Senior Accountant or Finance Director who lives on coffee, works 60 hours a week, and single-handedly carries the entire weight of your organization's compliance on their back. They are the first to arrive, the last to leave, and they possess an almost supernatural tolerance for messy data, convoluted federal grant tracking, and ever-shifting board requirements.

It feels like a classic binary choice. But after watching a lot of nonprofits navigate this transition, I’ve noticed that rushing to either extreme tends to create the exact problems organizations are trying to avoid.

If you’re trying to decide which route to take, here what I’ve seen actually happens behind the scenes with both models, the middle ground a lot of folks overlook, and how to protect your organization no matter which path you choose.

We get told that the best leaders are those who keep their doors open and expect their staff—including the entire finance and accounting team—to be available for drop-in meetings and "quick syncs" at all hours of the day. This is a misconception.

Nonprofits are having a hard time hiring accountants these days. Here are the reasons why.

What’s a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement? When does a nonprofit need a CPA on staff? How do we engage our board in finances? Bria Arline interviews Sean Hale on these topics and more in this podcast.

Accounting-related mistakes can become quite expensive for nonprofits, especially if left unaddressed. Read here for tips on how to recognize and rectify some of the most common ones.

Why do nonprofits struggle to find financial support these days?
I got to have a coffee conversation about this with Ginny Waller of Waller Consulting plus a few more topics!

PODCAST: How do you find the right accountant? The right accounting software? How about succession planning and fraud prevention?

Most introverts and numbers people feel stress from interruptions and surprises. The more that happens in your nonprofit, the more it could impact their productivity, morale, and ability to collaborate with coworkers.

Finding a nonprofit bookkeeper is hard. Finding one for a nonprofit with an annual budget under $100,000 is even harder. What can a nonprofit leader do if they don’t know any unicorns?

If Peter, Paul, and Mary were to write a song about the accountant shortage, it might look like this.

Why do so many nonprofit accountants quit their jobs in December? Work-life balance. Read on to learn more about how to prevent this phenomenon in your nonprofit.

Want to ensure you can attract and retain top accounting talent? Check out these tips.

Has your nonprofit had difficulty filling accounting positions? Read this to understand why.

What do small nonprofits need to know about finance and accounting? It got to appear on the Everything Nonprofit Podcast where we address questions like what is the chart of accounts, making engaging financial reports, and making difficult budget decisions.

The Count from Sesame Street can teach important career lessons to nonprofit accountants and finance professionals.

PODCAST: Want to be able to recruit and retain great administrators and accountants? Patrick Kirby and I dig into how to make sure this critical role gets covered so the rest of your nonprofit can thrive.

VIDEO. Want to leverage technology so you can work smarter (not harder)?