Nonprofit CPA in Riverside, CA
Audits, grant accounting, Form 990 and board reporting for Riverside County nonprofits funded by donors, city and county contracts, state grants and federal pass-through awards.
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A nonprofit CPA for Riverside and the Inland Empire
The request usually arrives in one sentence. A funder wants audited financial statements with the next application, the board wants clearer numbers, or a finance manager has three weeks to rebuild a year of grant expenses before a report is due. The hard part is the records and processes behind it.
RTN CPA is a certified public accounting firm that serves nonprofit organizations, government agencies and districts, and small businesses. Our work as a nonprofit CPA for Riverside, CA organizations and others across the Inland Empire starts with the questions that decide what is needed: how your funding is restricted, what you have to report, and whether your nonprofit accounting records can support those reports.
Audit work is led by Roman Richardson, CPA, who has more than 20 years of experience focused on nonprofit organizations and governmental districts in California and Washington. Tax work is led by Paul J. Stroub, CPA. RTN CPA is a California firm and offers its services to Riverside-area organizations remotely.
Nonprofit financial statement audits in Riverside
An audit can be required by a funder, a governing board, a loan agreement or a regulation. Before fieldwork is scheduled, find out exactly what level of assurance the requesting party wants. Sometimes a review is enough.
One requirement comes from the California Attorney General. Government Code section 12586(e) says that once a charity registered with the Attorney General reaches $2 million in gross revenue for a fiscal year, it must have its annual financial statements audited by an independent CPA and make them available to the Attorney General and the public within nine months after year end. Government grants are left out of that figure when the charity must account to the agency for how it used them, and a charitable corporation at that level also needs an audit committee.
- financial statement audits of nonprofit organizations
- Uniform Guidance Single Audits (2 CFR 200, Subpart F)
- grant- and contract-specific compliance audits
- reviews and compilations when the requesting party accepts them
- control deficiencies communicated to management and the board
An audit and a review are not interchangeable. An auditor tests the underlying records and expresses an opinion with reasonable assurance. A review offers limited assurance, based mainly on inquiry and analytical procedures, and does not include that testing. If you are unsure which you need, the agreement or board resolution behind the request usually answers it.
We send a document request list early, so gaps in reconciliations, grant support or cost allocations surface before the auditor finds them.
Independence comes first. If RTN CPA already keeps your books or works as part of your finance team, we evaluate the AICPA independence rules before agreeing to audit those same records, and in some cases a different firm should perform the audit.
Public funding and grant accounting in the Inland Empire
Nonprofits across Riverside County and the wider Inland Empire often run programs on a mix of individual gifts, city and county contracts, state grants and federal awards passed through a local agency, each with its own reimbursement rules, restrictions and reporting periods.
The City of Riverside's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is one local example. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the city awards part of it to community-based nonprofits as subrecipients. Its 2026/2027 application packet asks applicants to attach their most recent audited financial statement. It also says the city does not fund indirect costs and reimburses only costs incurred for the approved activity, so expenses have to be coded to that activity.
Federal money still counts as federal when it arrives through a city or county. A Single Audit is required once a nonprofit's federal award expenditures reach $1,000,000 in a fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 2024 ($750,000 for earlier fiscal years). The test is what was spent during the year, not the total value of the awards.
- tracking spending against each award's budget and terms
- documenting staff time and shared-cost allocations
- reconciling funder reports to the general ledger
- identifying federal pass-through funding early in the year
- preparing the schedule of federal award expenditures for a Single Audit
Form 990 and California filings
A completed Form 990 is more than a filing. It is the public record of your programs, governance and finances, and grantmakers, donors and prospective board members read it. A return filed on time can still work against you if it describes programs vaguely.
California adds its own obligations. If your organization is on the Attorney General's Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, it renews each year with Form RRF-1 and a copy of its IRS Form 990, generally by the 15th day of the fifth month after the fiscal year ends (May 15 for a December year end) unless an IRS extension applies. Exempt organizations also file with the Franchise Tax Board, generally Form 199 or the 199N e-Postcard. Which forms apply depends on the organization's status and activities, so we confirm that first and keep the federal and state filings consistent.
- Form 990 and 990-EZ, with the schedules your organization needs
- Form 990-PF for private foundations
- Form 990-T when there is unrelated business income
- California Form 199 or the 199N e-Postcard
- Attorney General Form RRF-1 renewals
Bookkeeping and board-ready reporting
A board should not have to read a stack of transaction reports to learn whether there is enough unrestricted cash for the next quarter. Useful reporting separates money available for operations from money donors, grantors or contracts have restricted, and compares results with the approved budget.
Our nonprofit accounting and fractional controller services support a consistent monthly close, reconciliations, net asset tracking and a financial package that management and directors can use. For organizations that bill grants on a reimbursement basis, a timely close also keeps reimbursement requests from falling behind.
- bank, payroll and grant receivable reconciliations
- month-end close and financial statement preparation
- net asset and restricted-fund tracking
- grant and program coding in the general ledger
- budget-to-actual reports for management and the board
Finance leadership without a full-time hire
Many Inland Empire nonprofits grow one program at a time. A new county contract or state grant adds staff and reporting, and finance is expected to keep up with the same people. At some point the organization needs a person responsible for budgets, cash projections and finance committee questions, though not full time.
A fractional CFO or controller fills that role part time. With reimbursement-based funding, much of the work is cash planning: when draws should arrive, how large the gap is until they do, and what reserves need to cover.
- operating and program budgets, including multi-year plans
- short-term cash projections built around draw timing
- internal controls review sized to a small finance staff
- finance committee and board presentations
- financial policies and procedures
When Riverside nonprofits should call a CPA
These situations are easier to handle before the fiscal year closes than after it.
- A new grant or contract changes what you report, or how often
- Your board or a funder has asked for the organization's first audit
- Restricted contributions are tracked in a spreadsheet outside the accounting system
- Federal pass-through money has never been added up for the year
- Grant reports and the general ledger no longer agree
- One person receives, records and reconciles the same transactions
Any one of these can be fixed. Left until year end, they tend to arrive together, and the cleanup then reaches back across twelve months of records.
Starting from your actual records
We begin with your financial records and reporting obligations, then decide which services fit. Some organizations need independent assurance first; others need accounting cleanup before an audit makes sense. We will tell you what order we think the work should follow.
Scope is agreed in writing before work starts. As a firm, RTN CPA has more than 25 years of experience and more than 100 completed audits.
- an initial call covering your funding, deadlines and the request in front of you
- an engagement letter that spells out what is and is not included
- a document request list sent before work starts
- secure file upload for records and supporting documents
- plain-language findings and practical next steps
We cannot promise a particular audit result. We can show you, before fieldwork, where the records are likely to raise questions.
Start with the service you need
Each link opens the full service page:
Serving Riverside and the Inland Empire
We serve nonprofits in the City of Riverside, across Riverside County and in neighboring San Bernardino County, the two counties that make up the Inland Empire. RTN CPA also offers its services to nonprofits in these markets:
Talk with RTN CPA about your Riverside nonprofit
An upcoming audit, a restricted grant that is hard to track, books that need cleanup, a Form 990 due date: each one starts from the records you already have and the deadline you are working toward.
Send us the agreement or board request that started the conversation. We will explain what it actually requires and which kind of engagement would meet it.
Common questions from Riverside nonprofits
Do you have an office in Riverside?
No. RTN CPA is a California firm with addresses in Los Angeles and Roseville, and it does not have a Riverside office. Inland Empire organizations can work with us through our secure file upload and scheduled phone or video meetings. If part of an engagement needs to happen on site, we raise it when we agree the scope.
Does every Riverside nonprofit need an annual audit?
No. California requires one for charities registered with the Attorney General once gross revenue reaches $2 million in a fiscal year (excluding government grants the charity must account for). Below that, grant agreements, city or county contracts, lenders and boards can still require an audit, and a Single Audit applies once federal award expenditures reach $1,000,000 in a fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 2024. Sometimes a review or compilation is enough.
What should we prepare before our first nonprofit audit?
Start with reconciled accounts, a trial balance and draft financial statements. Add grant agreements and the reports filed under them, contribution records showing donor restrictions, board minutes, key contracts and leases, and schedules supporting large balances such as receivables, fixed assets and deferred revenue. We provide a full request list once the engagement is agreed.
Can RTN CPA help us track restricted grant funds?
Yes. Our nonprofit accounting work includes fund and grant accounting: coding expenses to the right award, tracking restrictions until they are released, and reconciling funder reports to the ledger. The engagement letter sets out which tasks we take on and which stay with your staff.
Does a California nonprofit file more than Form 990?
Usually. Charities registered with the Attorney General file Form RRF-1 each year with their Form 990, and exempt organizations generally file Form 199 or the 199N e-Postcard with the Franchise Tax Board. Which filings apply depends on the organization.
Can one firm do our bookkeeping and our audit?
Not without an independence review. Professional rules limit the non-audit services an auditor can provide to the same client, and for audits required under California's $2 million rule, a firm that also provides non-audit services must follow the independence standards in Government Auditing Standards (the Yellow Book). Sometimes the answer is a separate audit firm.
Call (888) 616-8070 or schedule a consultation to get started.
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