In any organization, there is the chance of money going missing between income and outgo. Financial or internal controls are the policies and procedures that minimize this leakage – and protect people handling the money from charges of fraud. Businesses tend to have internal controls because the owner is keeping … Read More
One of the trickier issues in an employee manual is how to handle discipline.There are three tendencies that commonly cause problems: state the ideal process as an absolute, list what will get an employee fired, and spread discipline throughout the manual in bits and pieces. The first one is the … Read More
One technique that can be used to make board meetings more efficient, especially for boards with a lot of routine matters, is a consent agenda. A consent agenda is a way to corral all the straightforward board approvals into one item that can be voted on quickly: minutes, financial reports, … Read More
One question that often comes up in audits, whether ISO-9001, AS-9100, or food safety, is whether or not your people are qualified to do their job. How do you know that they are qualified to turn out a quality product every time? How do you know that they know how … Read More
People generally join nonprofit boards because they believe in the organization’s mission, but that doesn’t mean that they understand what it takes to be a good board member – that is one of those things we all have to learn by practicing. One way to make on-the-job training of new … Read More
When writing an employee manual, it is easy to focus on the policies and discipline procedures, because that is where the problems are usually reflected. But there are some final touches that should be put on every employee manual, one of which is a set of disclaimers. The first disclaimer … Read More
One of the primary responsibilities of a nonprofit board is to hire and supervise the executive director (if there is one), including setting appropriate compensation every year. Setting compensation is important for two reasons, one legal and one equitable. Legally, the IRS doesn’t like to see executive directors being paid … Read More
It seems obvious to employers that employees need to show up for work when they are scheduled, but it doesn’t always work that way. It is reasonable to have attendance policies, requiring employees to show up or otherwise meet their employment obligations. This could take the form of a job … Read More
Medical marijuana is legal in Montana, but that doesn’t mean that businesses have to allow employees to light up at work. According to an advisors’ website, Mondaq, [S]upreme courts in California, Oregon, Washington and Montana have all upheld employer decisions to discharge employees that were medical marijuana patients. The plaintiffs … Read More
Nonprofit boards vary wildly in their effectiveness, from barely functional to highly effective. One thing that sets the effective boards apart from the less so is a solid understanding of the board’s function and how each board member fits in. No piece of paper can change the culture of a … Read More