AustraliaServices Industries we knowNonprofits

Industries we know

Nonprofits for Australian businesses

Restricted-fund tracking and reporting a board and a funder both accept.

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What is nonprofits?

Restricted-fund tracking and reporting a board and a funder both accept.

An Australian nonprofit's books answer to the same three audiences as anywhere else — the board or committee that needs a clear picture at each meeting, the grant officer checking that funding was spent on what the funding agreement said, and the accountant or registered agent who turns the year's activity into the ACNC's Annual Information Statement and the financial report it's attached to. What's different here is the regulator: charities register with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, and their reporting tier — small, medium, or large — is set by annual revenue, which determines whether the year-end obligation is a statement, a review, or a full audit.

Restricted versus unrestricted funding is handled through AASB 1058 and AASB 15, the income-recognition standards that took effect for NFPs from 2019 and replaced the older, looser approach most small charities were still running on. A grant with genuine performance obligations attached is recognised as the obligations are satisfied, not the day the funds land in the bank account — which means a ledger that books grant income on receipt is quietly misstating every monthly report the committee sees until the accountant corrects it at year-end.

Who does what

Your CapEasy teamNonprofits, the reconciliations and reporting behind it, and the questions list that keeps it honest.
Your registered BAS or tax agentEverything that carries a licence in Australia — rendered exactly as written: work out what goes on your bas, or advise you on it — under tasa 2009 that requires registration we do not hold.
YouOne conversation with one named person, and the decisions that are genuinely yours.

Nonprofits in Australia

ACNC registration and reporting tiers

Registered charities report to the ACNC by annual revenue tier: small (under $500,000) files an Annual Information Statement with basic financial information, medium ($500,000 to $3 million) needs a reviewed or audited financial report attached, and large (over $3 million) requires a full audit. A charity that crosses a tier boundary mid-year is a common source of a late scramble — we track revenue against the tier thresholds through the year so a reclassification is visible early, not discovered at lodgement time.

DGR status and what it actually governs

Deductible gift recipient endorsement, granted by the ATO, determines whether a donor can claim a tax deduction for a gift — it doesn't change how the charity's books are kept, but it does mean gifts to a DGR fund need to be tracked separately from general revenue if the charity runs mixed DGR and non-DGR activities. We maintain that fund separation in the ledger; whether a particular activity or gift qualifies for DGR treatment is the accountant's determination.

Income recognition under AASB 1058 and AASB 15

Since the 2019 standard changeover, a grant or gift with enforceable, sufficiently specific performance obligations is recognised as those obligations are satisfied under AASB 15; a grant without that structure — most unconditional grants and donations — is recognised on receipt under AASB 1058. Getting this wrong in either direction distorts the monthly committee pack, and it's a judgment call the accountant makes on each award's terms — we code the transaction and flag the grant agreement's structure, but the recognition timing itself is theirs to determine.

GST charity concessions and FBT rebates — named, not applied

Registered charities can access GST concessions (on certain sales and importations) and FBT rebates or exemptions depending on charity type, which materially change how transactions should be coded. We can flag when a transaction pattern looks like it should qualify, but whether a concession applies, and how it's claimed on the BAS or FBT return, is a tax position that stays entirely with the charity's registered tax or BAS agent under TASA — we don't ascertain or advise on it.

What your registered BAS or tax agent receives from us

  • A general ledger with restricted and unrestricted funds tracked separately and reconciled monthly
  • Grant-coded transaction detail — every expense tagged to the funding agreement and budget line it belongs to
  • Grant acquittal packages built to each funder's own reporting format and due date
  • DGR fund separation maintained in the ledger where the charity runs mixed DGR and non-DGR activity
  • Committee or board packs: program-level P&L, budget-to-actual variance, and a restricted-versus-available funds summary
  • A restricted-fund rollforward showing balance, additions, and releases by grant or donor restriction

Questions worth asking before you start

Who actually does the work — a person or an AI tool?

A named person on our team owns your file and reviews everything that leaves it. Software does a real share of the grinding underneath it — coding, matching, flagging the obvious gaps — but nothing regulated happens without a person’s judgement, and nothing here is signed or filed by an algorithm.

Is there a filing or lodging step here?

No — nonprofits is operational work inside your books, not something submitted to ATO. Where a filing does sit downstream of it, inside industries we know more broadly, that stays with your registered BAS or tax agent, never with us.

Which software do you work in?

Whatever you already run. Most commonly QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, Zoho Books and a handful of others — we work inside your system rather than moving you onto one of our own.

How does this actually start?

A short, free read-only look at what you already have, and a written note on what we found. A scoping call decides the size of the engagement — nothing here commits you to anything.

What does it cost?

There is no published price for nonprofits — it depends on volume, how many entities are involved, and how far behind the books are. We quote after the read-only review, which is free.

How does this fit with the rest of industries we know?

Nonprofits sits inside industries we know, alongside Ecommerce, SaaS and software, Professional services. Most clients end up buying the category as a whole rather than one leaf at a time, but starting narrow is fine.

Do you determine our ACNC reporting tier or lodge our Annual Information Statement?

No. We track revenue against the tier thresholds and flag when a boundary is approaching, and we assemble the support schedules the AIS needs, but the lodgement itself — and the tier determination behind it — is the accountant's or registered agent's responsibility.

Who decides whether a grant's income should be recognised on receipt or over the funding period?

That's a judgment call under AASB 1058/1015 that stays with the charity's accountant. We code the transaction and flag the agreement's obligation structure so the accountant has the information to make that call — we don't make the recognition determination ourselves.

Can you help with GST charity concessions or FBT rebates?

We can flag when a transaction pattern looks like it may qualify for a concession, but ascertaining or advising on a tax position — including which GST concessions or FBT rebates apply — is a registered tax or BAS agent's role under TASA, not ours.

How is this different from regular small-business bookkeeping in Australia?

The reconciliation mechanics are similar, but a charity's books carry a structure a regular business doesn't need: restricted and unrestricted funds tracked separately, income recognition tested against each grant's obligation terms, and every funding agreement tracked to its own acquittal calendar. That structure is what makes an acquittal or an AIS support schedule possible without rebuilding the year from scratch.

Do you handle acquittals for state government grants as well as Commonwealth funding?

Yes — each funding agreement, whether state or Commonwealth, is coded to its own budget lines from intake, so an acquittal is a matter of formatting coded data to that funder's template rather than re-deriving the numbers under deadline pressure.

What happens if our charity is approaching the medium ACNC tier and might need a review or audit for the first time?

We track cumulative revenue against the $500,000 and $3 million thresholds through the year, so the committee sees a likely tier change coming and can engage a reviewer or auditor with enough runway, rather than discovering the requirement at lodgement time.

Can you set up separate tracking for a DGR fund alongside our general charity activities?

Yes — we maintain that fund separation in the ledger on an ongoing basis. Whether a specific activity or gift actually qualifies for DGR treatment is a determination for the charity's accountant.

Do you produce a board or committee pack we can take straight into a meeting?

Yes — a standing pack covering program-level P&L, budget-to-actual variance, and the restricted-versus-available funds position, built off the same coded ledger every other output draws from.

Who is accountable for the bookkeeping if AI tools are used in how it gets done?

A named member of our team owns the ledger and every reconciliation in it — AI speeds up repetitive coding and matching, but a person reviews the output, and your accountant or registered agent still reviews and lodges. Nothing is recorded or reported without that human accountability chain.

What if our charity runs programs across multiple states with different fundraising registration requirements?

We track revenue and expenditure by program or location in the ledger so state-specific reporting can be pulled independently, but state fundraising licensing and registration requirements themselves are a compliance matter for the charity's accountant or legal adviser, not something we determine.

Your CapEasy experts

Connect with us

Talk to the people who handle this work every day — no call centre, no hand-offs.

Ayush Joshi

Ayush Joshi

Co-Founder

Ex-OYO and Tenaciousfly. 7+ years in business development, strategic acquisitions, financing and debt syndication.

Aditya Jain

Aditya Jain

Co-Founder

Ex-Bank of America. 4+ years in investment banking, EU & Indian compliances, ESG compliances, and project management.

Manav Raval

Virtual CFO & Tax Specialist

Section 80-IAC, tax planning and startup compliance. Previously at Toyota Motor Corporation and Jaguar Land Rover.

Ayush Faldu

Virtual CFO & Tax Specialist

Financial strategy, budgeting and cash flow — a CFO’s judgement, monthly.

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