Varial — Never fail a Single Audit

Federal program / ALN	Expended
Head Start ALN 93.600 · HHS / ACF	$820,000
Community Dev. Block Grant ALN 14.218 · HUD (pass-through: State of CA)	$310,000
Substance Abuse Prevention ALN 93.243 · HHS / SAMHSA	$145,000
Supportive Housing Program ALN 14.235 · HUD	$96,000
Total federal expenditures	$0

federal-spend threshold that triggers a Single Audit (2 CFR 200.501)

~0%

of spreadsheets contain errors — the leading source of audit findings

0–12K

a year — a fraction of switching to Sage or Blackbaud, and grant-allowable

The problem

QuickBooks can't do fund accounting. So you do it in a spreadsheet.

Restricted-fund balances, roll-forward, releases — tracked by hand, outside your books, by one person. It's the leading source of audit findings, and a finding can cost you the grant.

Today — the spreadsheet

restricted_funds_v7_FINAL_final.xlsx

Fund	Open	Activity	End
Head Start	40,000	(75,000)	?? -35,000
CDBG	12,000	—	#REF!
SAMHSA	8,000	(6,200)	1,800
// check w/ Dana before close — does this tie?

Manual · error-prone · one person knows how it works

With Varial

Restricted-fund roll-forward · live

Fund	Open	Released	End
Head Start	40,000	(75,000)	25,000 ✓
CDBG	12,000	(9,000)	3,000 ✓
SAMHSA	8,000	(6,200)	1,800 ✓
Reconciled to QuickBooks · ties to the penny

Automatic · reconciled · survives staff turnover

How it works

Three steps. Then it runs itself.

Connect QuickBooks

Read-only. Varial never changes your books without your approval, and never moves money.

The agent maintains your funds

It watches every transaction, tags it to the right grant, keeps your roll-forward right, and reconciles to QuickBooks — continuously.

Export audit-ready

A clean SEFA, roll-forward, and audit binder your auditor trusts — on demand, all year. You approve the four things that matter.

“A tireless second set of eyes on your federal books. You attest; it prepares.”

Built for trust

To the standards your CPA firm already expects.

Varial is built around Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) and GAGAS — the rules your auditor works to. Read-only access, an immutable approval log, and your data stays yours.

SOC 1 Type 2 — issuedSOC 2 Type II — in progressRead-only QuickBooks accessWe never move your moneyFull data export, anytime

Visit our Trust Center →

Who's building it

A team that's lived this problem.

We've sat in the CFO's chair and built the fintech tools meant to fix it. Varial is what we wished existed.

Jason Garcia

CEO & Co-Founder

Jason has lived nonprofit finance from both sides — as a CFO wrestling with the books, and as a fintech executive building the tools to fix them. He started Varial to take the audit-prep scramble off finance teams for good.

Hunter Davis

Co-Founder, Head of Engineering

Hunter leads engineering — building the secure, auditable infrastructure that keeps restricted-fund data correct, reconciled, and ready for fieldwork.

Mahalia Thomas

Co-Founder, Product + Design

Mahalia builds financial tools that don't require a finance degree to use — so a clean SEFA and roll-forward are a few clicks, not a few weeks.

Total cost

A fraction of switching — with no migration.

Path	All-in / year	GL migration?
Stay on QuickBooks + Varial	~$9–12K	None
Switch to Sage Intacct	$35–90K	Rip & replace
Switch to Blackbaud	$15–65K	Rip & replace

Billed monthly (~$900/mo). An allowable cost under 2 CFR 200 — the grant pays for it, not your reserves.

Questions

What your board will ask.

Will my auditor accept this?

Yes — Varial produces the SEFA, roll-forward, and supporting documentation to the standards auditors already work to (Uniform Guidance, GAGAS), with a full approval trail. It makes their fieldwork easier, not harder.

Does it change my QuickBooks data?

No. Varial reads your books. It only ever writes a correction back to QuickBooks when you explicitly approve it — and logs exactly what changed.

What if we're audited mid-year?

That's the point of continuous readiness. Your roll-forward, SEFA, and reconciliations are current year-round — audit prep becomes a download, not a fire drill.

How do we pay for it?

Compliance software for managing federal awards is an allowable cost under 2 CFR 200 — chargeable to your grants directly or through your indirect rate. The grant funds it, not your discretionary budget.

What if you go away?

Your data is yours. You can export your full fund ledger, roll-forward history, and audit records at any time, in standard formats.

Get started

See it on your own books — free, for design partners.

Connect your QuickBooks and send your spreadsheet. The agent shows you your roll-forward, the coding issues your auditor would catch, and a draft SEFA — fast. We run it alongside your spreadsheet until you trust it.

Talk to us Try the free SEFA tool