Accounting for a not-for-profit organization's fund-raising costs.

The AICPA's Statement of Position (SOP) 98-2 provides guidance on how a not-for-profit entity should account for costs associated with activities that involve a fund-raising component in combination with one or more mission-related components. Costs may be allocated among the various components of such an activity as long as the activity meets certain criteria specified by SOP 98-2. These criteria are related to the activity's purpose, audience, and content. If the activity does not meet the criteria, then all costs of the activity must be shown as fund-raising costs.