Serving Washington, DC
Financial control for Washington organizations accountable to more than one audience.
R² Advisors is a Virginia-based, CPA-led financial advisory firm serving organizations in Washington, DC. We connect accounting, grants, contracts, cash and tax so leadership, boards and funders are not working from different versions of the financial picture.
Based in McLean, Virginia, across the Potomac from the District.
One organization can answer to several different audiences.
Management needs to understand performance. A board may need to understand stewardship. Funders and contracting agencies may need evidence tied to specific awards or obligations. The difficulty begins when each audience receives a different version of the financial picture.
Funding changes during the year.
A grant is delayed, modified or restricted differently than expected. The program continues, but leadership cannot immediately see the effect on staffing, cash and unrestricted resources.
Reporting exists in separate systems.
The accounting records, grant schedules, contract reports and board materials are individually reasonable. They no longer reconcile without additional work.
One record that every audience can rely on.
Financial control is the system of records, responsibilities, reviews, evidence and decisions that makes financial information dependable. Managed Financial Control is R²’s recurring financial-control relationship for keeping that system dependable month after month.
What R² means by Financial ControlAwards and restrictions. What each grant allows, what has been charged to it and what remains available.
Contracts and shared costs. What each contract recovers, and how costs shared across programs are allocated and supported.
Boards and funders. The same figures behind the board package, the funder report and the annual audit.
Start with the reporting you have to stand behind.
Some organizations need grant and contract records rebuilt before the next report is due. Others need a monthly discipline that keeps every audience aligned. Some need tax or governance advice as funding or structure changes.
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Establish Control
Can we support what we have already reported?
We reconcile the general ledger to grant, contract and board schedules, correct what no longer agrees and set up the records the next review will need.
Explore Establish Control -
Maintain Control
the recurring relationship
Will every report tell the same story next month?
Through Managed Financial Control, R² closes the books, keeps award and contract schedules current and prepares what leadership, the board and funders each need from one record.
Explore Managed Financial Control -
Extend Control
What changes when funding, structure or scrutiny changes?
Tax and governance advice, cost-allocation decisions and board support when a new award, an affiliated entity or an outside review raises the stakes.
Explore Extend Control
Three conditions that shape the work in Washington
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Contracts, Grants & External Accountability
For organizations funded by federal awards, contracts or foundation grants, the record has to show what each source paid for. Under the federal Uniform Guidance, an organization that spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in a fiscal year must have a single or program-specific audit (2 CFR 200.501 (opens in a new tab)).
Financial control for government contractors -
Distributed Services, Programs & Locations
For associations and service organizations running several programs, chapters or sites, each one needs its own picture without breaking the whole. Shared costs have to be allocated the same way every month, so program results can be compared and explained.
Explore distributed services, programs and locations -
Capital, Projects & Complex Entities
For organizations with an affiliated foundation, a for-profit subsidiary or property held in a separate entity, each one keeps its own records and filings. Leadership and the board still need one view of the obligations between them.
Explore capital, projects and complex entities
Work shaped by outside accountability.
Much of our work is with organizations whose figures are read by more than one audience: leadership deciding what to do next, a board responsible for stewardship, and funders or contracting officers checking what their money supported.
That shapes how we build the record. Grant and contract schedules are reconciled to the general ledger, not kept beside it. Costs shared across programs follow a method the organization can explain. Entities and jurisdictions are reported separately and together. Every figure in a report can be traced to its support, because someone outside the organization will eventually ask.
What happens after you get in touch
A senior member of our team reviews your message and helps determine where the work should begin. We ask which audiences rely on your figures, which report or review is coming next and where the records stop agreeing.
Most organizations contact us between reporting deadlines, not after the books are perfect. The first conversations show whether the work starts with Establish, Maintain or Extend.
If you have a finance director, a controller or an outside auditor, we work alongside them. R² can carry defined responsibilities directly or support the people already in place.
Questions Washington leaders ask before the first conversation
Can R² work with an existing controller or finance team?
Yes. We agree which responsibilities R² carries and which stay with your team, so grant, contract and board reporting each have a clear owner.
Can R² support organizations with contracts, grants or funder reporting?
Yes. We keep award and contract schedules reconciled to the books and prepare reporting that can be supported line by line, whether it goes to a funder, a contracting officer or the board.
Does R² need to be located in Washington to work with us?
No. R² Advisors is based in McLean, Virginia, and serves organizations in the District. The work runs on shared records and regular reviews, and we meet in person when that helps.
Where does the work begin when programs or entities report differently?
Usually with one reconciliation: the general ledger against each program, award and entity schedule. That shows whether the differences come from timing, allocation or the records themselves, and what to fix first.
Tell us what changed.
You do not need to know which report is wrong. Tell us what has become harder to explain, and we will tell you where we would begin.