ARTS & CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS CPA SERVICES

Accounting, Tax & Advisory for Arts & Cultural Organizations

From ticket and membership revenue to Form 990 and your annual audit, we handle the numbers so you can focus on the work on stage and in the gallery.

Serving Seattle-area arts nonprofits since 1971 · Licensed WA CPAs

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Accounting Built Around How Arts Organizations Actually Operate

Greenwood Ohlund is a Seattle CPA firm built to handle the chaos of arts and nonprofit accounting. It’s actually a particular specialty of ours. We’ve spent several decades mapping grants, membership dues, restricted gifts, and all other earned and contributed income onto audit-ready Form 990s. We also perform the audits your board and grantors expect, including Single Audits. You’ll work directly with your accountant, not a rotating team. The CPA who prepares your Form 990 or leads your audit is the same person who picks up the phone when your board has questions.

OUR CLIENTS

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The Challenges Arts & Cultural Organizations Face

In tracking, we separate earned revenue like ticket and membership income, from contributed revenue like grants and donations. Then we bring them back together in reports your board can understand and use.

We build your budget and cash flow projections around your actual production or exhibition calendar instead of a generic quarterly template. When it’s time to report, we translate those numbers back into standard fiscal-year terms without losing the timing details.

Some of it. We help you determine which income streams need a Form 990-T because they trigger unrelated business income tax (UBIT) and which ones don’t.

WHAT WE DO

How We Support Arts & Cultural Organizations

Tax Services

Form 990 filings and UBIT questions, handled by people who know what to look out for.

Audit & Assurance

Financial statement audits and Single Audits your board and grantors trust, backed by decades of nonprofit audit experience.

Accounting & CFO Services

Day-to-day bookkeeping and budgeting built around your production calendar, and reporting that keeps everyone on the same page.

What Makes Arts & Cultural Organizations Accounting Different

A general nonprofit accountant might handle a Form 990 but arts and cultural nonprofits need specialists. A CPA for arts organizations knows about the public support test on Schedule A, earned versus contributed revenue recognition, functional-expense reporting, unrelated business income tax (UBIT) on gift shops, concessions, cafes, and facility rentals, and, for museums and galleries, collection capitalization and deaccession policy. And in-kind gifts and gala or auction proceeds add another layer, since only part of what a donor pays usually counts as a contribution.

Washington adds its own layer on top of the federal rules. Nonprofits that raise $50,000 or more from the public, or pay anyone to carry out their operations, need to meet the registration requirement for charitable organizations. Sales tax doesn’t come with a blanket nonprofit exemption in Washington, but qualifying arts and cultural organizations get their own retail sales tax exemption for objects acquired for exhibition or presentation. Seattle-based performing arts organizations may also qualify for an exemption from the city’s admission tax on ticket sales, depending on how the event is structured. And if your organization holds a restricted endowment, Washington’s Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act governs how that fund gets invested and spent, separate from any board-designated funds you manage on your own.

We serve organizations like yours

Organizations Like Yours

We work with a wide range of arts and cultural organizations, including:

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Theaters and performing arts companies

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Museums and galleries

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Music and dance organizations

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Arts-education nonprofits

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Festivals

nonprofit accounting services
nonprofit accounting services

Cultural and heritage institutions

Why Arts & Cultural Organizations Choose Greenwood Ohlund

Our accounting and CFO services provide structured financial oversight, accurate reporting, and practical insight for organizations that require clarity and consistency. We deliver full accounting services and advisory support designed to strengthen financial management without unnecessary complexity.

Decades in nonprofit accounting

We’ve been doing this since 1971.

Tax, audit, accounting, and CFO expertise, one firm

Most firms our size don’t offer all four under one roof. You get a Form 990 team, an audit team, and a CFO-level advisory team who already talk to each other, instead of coordinating three separate vendors yourself.

Seattle-rooted, with clients across Washington and beyond

We’re based in Seattle with clients all over the country and the resources to serve them all.

A relationship that runs all year, not just at filing time

We’re recognized as a Peak Firm and a PSBJ Washington’s Best Workplaces honoree, and that same culture shows up in how we work with clients: regular conversations and actual availability, not a firm you hear from once a year.

EXPERIENCE THE GO DIFFERENCE

Your Arts & Cultural Organizations Team

Matt Smith

AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Matt Smith, CPA

Partner

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Jason Mallon, CPA

CFO & ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Jason Mallon, CPA

Partner

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Claire Chow

TAX SERVICES

Claire Chow, CPA

Partner

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Andrew Van Ness

AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Andrew Van Ness, CPA

Partner

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Tax Services

Martha Hadaway, EA

Partner

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Brian

CFO & ACCOUTNING SERVICES

Brian Vinciguerra

Partner

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MEET THE TEAM
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FAQ

Arts & Cultural Organizations Accounting FAQs

Yes. Most tax-exempt arts organizations file Form 990 annually with the IRS, and organizations that receive government or foundation grants often also need Schedule A to show they qualify as a public charity, not a private foundation. We handle the filing and the public support test as part of our Form 990 arts nonprofit work.

Only if you spend $1,000,000 or more in federal awards during your fiscal year. That threshold, set by the Uniform Guidance, is what triggers a Single Audit rather than a standard financial statement audit. We handle both, and can tell you which applies once we know your federal funding.

It depends on your organization’s policy. Museums can choose whether to capitalize their collections as assets on the balance sheet or treat them as non-capitalized, and that choice affects how acquisitions, deaccessions, and donated pieces get recorded. We help set that policy and apply it consistently as part of our museum nonprofit bookkeeping work.

It depends on the scope. Tax filings alone cost less than ongoing bookkeeping, audit support, and CFO-level advisory combined. Rather than quote a number that won’t fit every organization, we start with a conversation about your revenue mix and reporting needs, then build a proposal around what you need.

Yes, if you raise $50,000 or more from the public in a year, or pay anyone to run your operations. Washington’s Secretary of State Charities Program requires registration under those conditions, with limited exemptions for small, all-volunteer organizations. We can tell you quickly whether your organization meets the threshold.

CONTACT US

Let's Talk About Your Arts or Cultural Organization

Whether you’re preparing for your next audit, sorting out UBIT on a gift shop or rental space, or just tired of reconciling grants and ticket revenue on your own, we can take it from here. Reach out and we’ll start with a conversation about what your organization actually needs.

Greenwood Ohlund, PS
4241 21st Ave W, Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98199
(206) 782-1767