Running Reports

NP Ledger generates the financial reports your board, auditor, and funders need. You can view reports on screen, download them as CSV spreadsheets, or export them as PDF documents.

Your board needs to see how the organization is doing financially. Your auditor needs standard financial statements. Grant funders need to see how their money was spent. Reports turn your day-to-day bookkeeping into the documents these people expect.

• At least one accounting period with posted transactions (a posted transaction is one that has been finalized and added to your books)
• If you want fund-level detail, make sure transactions are tagged to the correct funds

Viewing a report

1. Go to Reports (in the sidebar). This shows the list of available reports.
2. Click the report you want to run. The most common reports:
3. Activities — revenue and expenses for a period (what your board usually wants)
4. Financial Position — assets, liabilities, and net assets at a point in time (your "balance sheet")
5. Trial Balance — all account balances in one list (what your accountant uses to verify the books)
6. General Ledger — every transaction in every account (the most detailed report)
7. Budget vs Actual — compares your spending to your budget, with variances marked as favorable (under budget) or unfavorable (over budget)
8. Fund Transactions — all activity within a specific fund
9. Program Report — spending and revenue by program area (for Form 990 Part III)
10. Grant Dashboard — budget, spending, and remaining balance for each grant
11. Cash Flows — how cash moved in and out during a period
12. Functional Expenses — expenses broken down by natural classification and functional category (program, management, fundraising)
13. Net Asset Roll-Forward — how net assets changed over a period, by fund
14. Supporter Transactions — donation history for a specific supporter
15. Project Fund — spending and revenue by project
16. Processing Fees — fees charged by payment platforms
17. 1099 Summary — tracks contractor and consultant payments for IRS Form 1099-NEC filing
18. Set the date range using the filter controls at the top of the report.
19. Apply additional filters if available — fund, program, or project.
20. Review the report on screen.

Exporting a report

1. Click "CSV" to download a spreadsheet version you can open in Excel or Google Sheets.
2. Click "PDF" to download a formatted document suitable for board packets or auditor requests.

Tip: CSV exports include all data columns, which is useful for custom analysis. PDF exports are formatted for presentation and printing.

Understanding key reports

Activities shows your revenue minus expenses for a time period, broken down by fund. Net assets are what's left after subtracting liabilities from assets — in nonprofit accounting, they replace "equity" or "profit." Your board typically reviews this monthly or quarterly.

Financial Position shows what your organization owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities), and your net assets at a specific date. This is the nonprofit equivalent of a balance sheet.

Trial Balance lists every account with its total debits, total credits, and the net difference. If the total debits equal the total credits, the report shows "Balanced" — this confirms your books are mathematically correct. A balanced trial balance does not mean every account is correct, just that every transaction was recorded with equal debits and credits.

Why do some accounts show negative numbers? The "Balance" column shows debits minus credits for every account. Some account types — like liabilities, net assets, and revenue — naturally accumulate more credits than debits, so their balance column will show a negative number. This is completely normal and expected. A negative net asset balance, for example, means your organization has accumulated net assets (a good thing). Think of it this way: the negative sign just means the account sits on the "credits" side of the ledger.

When is a negative number actually a concern? Only when it appears on an account type that should be positive — for example, a negative balance on a bank account (asset) might mean you've recorded more withdrawals than deposits. Or a negative balance on an expense account could indicate a refund or recording error. The AI Help assistant understands these conventions and will only flag truly unusual balances.

Budget vs Actual compares what you planned to spend against what you actually spent. Variances are marked as favorable (under budget) or unfavorable (over budget), with year-to-date pro-ration so mid-year numbers make sense.

Fund Transactions shows every transaction in a specific fund. Use this when a donor or funder asks "how was my money spent?"

• Report totals make sense given your recent transaction activity
• The date range covers the period you intended
• Fund breakdowns match your expectations (if you're using multiple funds)

• Running reports for the wrong date range — Double-check the start and end dates. A report for "this fiscal year" may not match "this calendar year" if your fiscal year starts in July. Your fiscal year is the 12-month period your organization uses for financial reporting.
• Expecting real-time bank balances — Reports show what's recorded in NP Ledger, not what's in your bank right now. If you haven't reconciled recently, there may be differences.
• Confusing Activities with Financial Position — Activities covers a period (revenue and expenses over time). Financial Position is a snapshot (assets and liabilities at a specific date). Both are needed for a complete financial picture.
• Forgetting to filter by fund — If you need a restricted-fund-only report for a funder, use the fund filter. The default report shows all funds combined.

Accountant note: NP Ledger's Activities report follows ASU 2016-14 (FASB ASC 958-205), presenting revenue and expenses in two net asset classes: with donor restrictions and without donor restrictions. The Functional Expenses report follows ASC 958-720-45, breaking down expenses by natural classification and functional category (program, management, fundraising).