Bookkeeping and Accounting for Museum Curators

At Bench Accounting, we understand that museum curators juggle a unique set of financial tasks including artifacts acquisition, funding applications, budgeting for exhibitions, and more. Our professional bookkeeping service can help manage these tasks more effectively. We offer tailored bookkeeping solutions to help you track your finances, prepare financial reports, manage payroll, budget for exhibitions and maintain financial compliance. With Bench Accounting, you get a dedicated team of experts who understand the specific financial needs of museum curators and can work with you to organize and simplify your financial management processes.

Managing museum acquisitions and donations requires unique bookkeeping practices to ensure accuracy and compliance. Here are some specific practices we suggest:

• Donation Tracking: It's vital to have a systematic approach to track all donations, whether they are monetary or in the form of art pieces. Maintaining detailed records including donor information, donation value, and date can assist in compliance with tax laws and auditing processes.
• Asset Management: Acquisitions become assets to the museum, and thus it's important to record their value accurately. In addition, these assets need to be depreciated over time and this depreciation must be recorded as a part of financial statements.
• Expense Management: Tracking expenses associated with acquisition and maintenance of collections is also critical. These could include purchase costs, restoration expenses or costs related to insurance and storage.
• Grant Accounting: Museums often receive grants for acquisitions. It's important to manage these grants separately to ensure compliance with the grant's terms and conditions.

Given the unique needs of museum accounting, it would be beneficial to consider professional bookkeeping services to ensure accuracy and regulatory compliance.

Yes, Bench Accounting has a team of skilled bookkeepers that have extensive experience in handling the complexities of grant and endowment fund accounting typically associated with museum operations. We understand the unique accounting needs of this industry and are well-equipped to manage your financial books accordingly. Our services are catered to your needs, ensuring accurate and timely reporting to help you make informed decisions for your organization.

Nope! All bookkeeping is completed in-house.

Your bookkeeper will be your main point of contact, but at times you might hear from another member of your team. This is usually when your bookkeeper goes on vacation, is sick, or otherwise unavailable.

We handle the bookkeeping for you but sometimes we’ll need your input, especially at year-end. On average, expect to spend 15 minutes each month answering questions for your bookkeeper, or uploading supporting docs.