Do we still need our bookkeeper?

Keep them if the arrangement is working. Transaction processing and controller-level review are different jobs at different price points, and plenty of organizations keep the bookkeeper they have while Truvio owns the layer above. Where there is no bookkeeper, or the current setup is not holding up, Truvio can take on the transaction work too, with staff accountants handling it under controller review.

How is this different from our CPA firm?

Your CPA firm works in arrears, usually on the 990 and the audit. A controller works inside the month: closing the books, producing the reporting leadership uses, and catching problems while they can still be fixed. The two roles do not overlap much.

Are you a vendor or part of our staff?

Contractually a vendor. Functionally Truvio operates as your controller, attends the meetings that matter, and is accountable for the finance function. Organizations typically introduce Truvio to their board and auditors as their controller.

What happens if we hire a full-time Controller later?

That is a normal and good outcome. The new hire inherits documented procedures, a clean close, and current grant records instead of a mess. Truvio hands off deliberately and can stay on in a reduced advisory role during the transition if that helps.

What access do you need?

Your accounting system, read access to banking and payroll, your grant agreements and funder portals, and whatever shared drive holds the finance files. Truvio works remotely and can operate within whatever access policy your board has set.

Services

What a fractional controller actually does.

Truvio takes responsibility for the finance function rather than delivering a list of tasks: the monthly close, the reporting leadership relies on, grant and fund accounting, audit preparation, internal controls, and the systems underneath all of it. Led by a CPA, delivered remotely, accountable for the numbers.

The monthly close

A close that lands on a date you can plan around, with statements nobody has to caveat.

Truvio runs the close on a published schedule: reconciliations completed, accruals and allocations posted, intercompany and interfund activity cleared, and financial statements issued by fund, program, and grant. Variances get explained in the same package, so leadership reads one document instead of chasing three people.

What that includes

Bank, investment, and balance sheet reconciliations
Recurring journal entries, accruals, and deferrals
Revenue recognition for contributions, grants, and contracts
Statement of financial position, activities, and functional expenses
Review of AP, AR, and payroll entries posted by staff or your bookkeeper

Reporting leadership can act on

Reports built backward from the decisions they are supposed to support.

Most nonprofit reporting answers questions nobody asked and misses the ones leadership is actually sitting with. Truvio builds budget-to-actual reporting with written explanation, cash and liquidity reporting that distinguishes unrestricted from restricted, and forecasting for the specific decisions in front of you: a hire, a program expansion, a funding gap.

What that includes

Budget to actual with narrative, not just variance columns
Cash position, runway, and liquidity by restriction
Forecasts for hiring, program, and funding decisions
Board and finance committee packets
Finance committee participation where it is useful

Grants, funders, and the audit

The schedules exist before anyone asks for them.

Grant accounting and audit preparation fail in the same way: the work is left until someone external sets a deadline. Truvio keeps award-level tracking current through the year, so reimbursement requests go out on time, funder reports reconcile to the general ledger, and audit schedules are a byproduct of the close rather than a separate project in the spring.

What that includes

Award-level budget, spend, and balance tracking
Cost allocation methodology and indirect cost support
Reimbursement requests and funder financial reports
Audit schedules, reconciliations, and supporting documentation
Coordination with your independent auditors and outside CPA firm
Follow-through on prior-year findings and management letter comments

Systems and controls that outlast people

A finance function that survives someone leaving.

The most common risk Truvio finds is not an error. It is that one person knows how everything works and none of it is written down. Documented procedures, controls sized honestly to your staffing, and an accounting system configured for fund accounting rather than fought against are what make the rest repeatable.

What that includes

Written procedures for close, AP, payroll, grants, and reporting
Internal controls sized for your actual headcount
QuickBooks Online setup, cleanup, and chart of accounts design
Approval workflows and segregation of duties within real constraints
Automation and integrations where they reduce risk rather than adding it
Knowledge transfer to staff and to whoever you hire next

Scope, honestly

What Truvio does not do.

Two things sit outside the engagement, and both for a reason rather than a preference. Everything else in the finance function is available, from day-to-day transaction entry through controller-level oversight.

The independent audit itself. Truvio prepares for it and coordinates with your auditors. Performing it would impair their independence.
Form 990 preparation and tax filings, which stay with your outside CPA firm. Truvio supplies the schedules they need.

How it fits

Working alongside the people you already have.

Truvio is rarely the only finance resource an organization has. The goal is not to replace a finance team that is working. It is to make sure someone with controller-level experience is accountable for how the pieces fit together.

Where you do not have that resource, Truvio can cover the transaction layer as well. Day-to-day entry, bill processing, payroll, and routine bookkeeping are handled by staff accountants working under controller review, which keeps the processing and the oversight connected instead of split between two vendors who never speak to each other.

Your bookkeeper or accounting staff

They keep doing the transaction work. Truvio reviews it, owns the close on top of it, and gives them clear procedures so the work stops depending on memory.

Your outside CPA firm

They continue with the 990 and any tax matters. Truvio delivers reconciled books and the schedules they ask for, which usually shortens their engagement.

Your independent auditors

Truvio assembles the requested schedules, answers fieldwork questions directly, and keeps those questions off the Executive Director.

Your Executive Director and board

One person to ask about the numbers, who can answer in plain language and say when the answer is not yet known.

Questions Executive Directors ask first.

Do we still need our bookkeeper?: Keep them if the arrangement is working. Transaction processing and controller-level review are different jobs at different price points, and plenty of organizations keep the bookkeeper they have while Truvio owns the layer above. Where there is no bookkeeper, or the current setup is not holding up, Truvio can take on the transaction work too, with staff accountants handling it under controller review.
How is this different from our CPA firm?: Your CPA firm works in arrears, usually on the 990 and the audit. A controller works inside the month: closing the books, producing the reporting leadership uses, and catching problems while they can still be fixed. The two roles do not overlap much.
Are you a vendor or part of our staff?: Contractually a vendor. Functionally Truvio operates as your controller, attends the meetings that matter, and is accountable for the finance function. Organizations typically introduce Truvio to their board and auditors as their controller.
What happens if we hire a full-time Controller later?: That is a normal and good outcome. The new hire inherits documented procedures, a clean close, and current grant records instead of a mess. Truvio hands off deliberately and can stay on in a reduced advisory role during the transition if that helps.
What access do you need?: Your accounting system, read access to banking and payroll, your grant agreements and funder portals, and whatever shared drive holds the finance files. Truvio works remotely and can operate within whatever access policy your board has set.

Talk with Jeremy

Not sure which parts of this you actually need?

That is the normal starting point. Describe what is happening and you will get an honest read on whether Truvio is the right fit, including the cases where the answer is that you need less than you thought.

Talk with Jeremy jeremy@truviofinancial.com