From Audit Anxiety
to Flying Colors
How Accountable Numbers stepped in after a long-tenured finance director retired — stabilizing the books, preparing Beat The Streets for a high-stakes audit, and turning a financially struggling nonprofit into one that no longer needs to ask its board for bailouts.
About the Client
Who Is Beat The Streets Wrestling NYC?
Beat The Streets Wrestling NYC (BTSNY) is a nonprofit organization that uses the discipline and community of wrestling to transform the lives of New York City youth. By providing access to elite-level coaching, competitive opportunities, and a structured athletic program, BTSNY gives young people a path — on and off the mat.
Like many mission-driven nonprofits, BTSNY depends on donor confidence, board support, and tight financial stewardship to keep its programs running. When their longtime Director of Finance retired in late 2024, the organization faced a critical transition — and needed a financial partner who could hit the ground running.
Sector
Nonprofit — Youth Athletics
Client Since
December 2024
Core Challenge
Leadership gap, audit readiness & cash flow instability
Services Provided
Bookkeeping, budget, cash flow, budget vs. actual & audit support
The Challenge
A High-Stakes Transition With No Safety Net
When Accountable Numbers was brought on in December 2024, Beat The Streets was navigating several converging pressures. Their longtime Director of Finance — who held years of institutional knowledge — was gone, and the accounting records left behind were not in clean shape.
Making matters more complex: the organization was heading into its annual financial audit, and the periods under audit covered the time before our engagement. The prior finance director's work would be scrutinized, she was no longer available to answer questions, and the records needed to support that audit had to be reconstructed from scratch.
The stakes
For a nonprofit, a troubled audit doesn't just mean paperwork problems — it can shake donor trust, trigger board intervention, and threaten the funding that keeps programs alive.
Our Approach
All Hands On Deck — Starting With the Audit
Accountable Numbers partnered directly with the Executive Director and Head Coach to do what the prior finance team couldn't leave behind: a fully supported, documented audit file. Together, we tracked down missing receipts, reconstructed transaction records, and assembled documentation for every revenue and expense selection.
At the same time, we built the financial management infrastructure Beat The Streets had never had before.
"The board had nothing but great things to say in our last meeting."
Accountable Numbers, on the FY25 board reviewWhat made it work
It took full cooperation from the BTSNY team. The Executive Director and Head Coach rolled up their sleeves alongside our controller to track down documentation that no longer had an obvious owner. That partnership is what made the audit reconstruction possible.
The Results
A Complete Turnaround
As Beat The Streets heads into the FY25 audit — the first full fiscal year under Accountable Numbers' management — the organization is completely prepared. Receipts and documentation are in order for every revenue and expense category. The books are clean. There is no scrambling, no missing paperwork, no last-minute surprises.
Because Beat The Streets spent the year following the budget and reviewing the weekly cash flow forecast, financial discipline compounded across the entire organization. They are finishing the year significantly under budget on expenses and over-performing on income.
Perhaps most meaningfully: Beat The Streets no longer needs to go to its board asking for emergency bailout donations. Donors who had grown skeptical about how funds were being used now have full confidence in the organization's financial management.
The board's view
At the most recent board meeting, leadership had nothing but positive feedback. Beat The Streets is no longer a financially fragile organization asking its board for emergency support — it's a well-managed nonprofit executing on its mission with clean books to match.
How We Work Together
Weekly Visibility, Monthly Accountability
The systems Accountable Numbers put in place aren't one-time deliverables — they're active management tools that the Beat The Streets team relies on every week and every month.
The cash flow forecast is updated weekly by our team based on actuals, giving the Executive Director a real-time picture of the organization's financial position. Each month, leadership receives a budget vs. actual report — a clear side-by-side view of what was planned versus what actually happened — so any variances are caught and addressed before they compound.
The budget is a living reference that shapes every spending decision. The books are maintained to audit-ready standards year-round, so there's never a scramble when audit season arrives.
This is what sustainable nonprofit financial management looks like: not just clean records, but the infrastructure and discipline to keep them that way.
