An open standard for nonprofit accounting

Unified Chart of Accounts for Nonprofits

A modernized UCOA for 501(c)(3) organizations — every account with plain-language guidance, current-GAAP treatment (ASU 2016-14, ASU 2018-08, ASC 842), and cross-references to the current Form 990.

Version 4.1 · July 2026 Based on CAN/NCCS UCOA v3.0 CC BY 4.0
accounts in the standard build
added since UCOA v3.0
100%Form 990 cross-references current
2002last official UCOA update — until now
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Activity coding

Revenue and expense accounts take a suffix that tracks functional classification for Form 990 Part IX and the statement of functional expenses — e.g. 7220-100 is salaries & wages coded to Program A; 7220-510 is the same account coded to management & general.

Code rangeFunctionForm 990
100–199Program department APart IX, Col. (B)
200–299Program department BPart IX, Col. (B)
300–399Program department CPart IX, Col. (B)
400–449Program department DPart IX, Col. (B)
450–499Other program servicesPart IX, Col. (B)
510Management & generalPart IX, Col. (C)
710FundraisingPart IX, Col. (D)
900–930Cost pools (allocate & zero out before close)Allocated

About this standard

The original Unified Chart of Accounts was published by the California Association of Nonprofits (CAN) and the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), last updated as v3.0 in 2002. Since then, FASB rewrote nonprofit financial presentation (ASU 2016-14) and contribution accounting (ASU 2018-08), the IRS redesigned the Form 990 (2008), and technology became a core operating cost.

EBCFO's v4 is a targeted modernization, not a replacement: the account numbering scheme, balance-sheet / income-statement split, and activity-coding framework are preserved. What changed: net assets restructured to the two-class model, conditional contributions per ASU 2018-08, technology and special-event cost accounts added, all Form 990 references updated, and every description rewritten in plain language. v4.1 promotes six debt accounts to the standard build.

The full rationale for every change is in CHANGES.md.