Financial reporting and accountability in charitable organisations
- Authors: Dellaportas, Steven , Langton, Jonathan , West, Brian
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2008 AFAANZ / IAAER Conference, Sydney, New South Wales : 6th-8th July 2008
- Full Text: false
- Description: The not-for-profit sector is made up of approximately 700,000 entities employing around 600,000 people and controlling assets up to $70 billion, with the largest charities comparing favourably in size and value to big business. While it is expected that many charitable organisations are well-managed and make a significant contribution to society, a lack of good governance and/or accountability could have devastating affects on the community. Official inquiries into the not-for-profit sector have questioned the lack of transparency and accountability created by a complex legal and regulatory regime. Critics of the existing regime have called for reforms including mandatory financial reporting requirements and an independent regulator to enhance public accountability and organizational efficiency and performance. This study provides an insight into the financial reporting activities of Australia’s largest charities so as to provide a measure of the extent to which charities meet public expectations of accountability. This involved the examination of over 100 publicly available reports for charitable organizations and the administration of a questionnaire. The majority of charities examined in this study provide community, welfare or health services, employ over 100 employees, and rely on a similar number of volunteers to assist with their activities. We have attempted to shed light on a significant failure of the not-for-profit sector to date, in that although our research highlights inconsistencies in reporting formats, ambiguus financial information and a high proportion of qualified audit reports there is a strong belief from charity organisations that the public is entitled to receive quality information on financial performance, suggesting that increased financial disclosures would be beneficial to the charitable sector. Respondents supported ‘programme accountability’ (89.1%), ‘fiscal accountability’ (78.2%) and ‘profit’ (76.6%) as suitable measures of performance with the circumstances of not-for-profit organisations sufficiently different to require a specific and dedicated accounting standard for the sector.
- Description: 2003006345
Motives, money and microfinance – Are we measuring the right subsidy variable?
- Authors: Langton, Jonathan
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2007 AFAANZ Conference, The Gold Coast, Queensland : 1st-3rd July 2007
- Full Text: false
- Description: In the next ten years, society will spend $20 billion U.S. on Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Previous research on the impact of subsidies suggests that there is little if any consensus on an effective method to measure the impact of subsidies with considerable doubt existing that a financial variable is the most appropriate method. Findings suggest that in order for the impact of subsidies to be fully reconciled, some consideration must be given to the initial objectives and underlying motives of MFIs and subsidy providers as this has an intrinsic bearing on any result they are attempting to achieve. I have attempted to shed light on a significant failure of the microfinance movement to date, in that we still have not clearly articulated by what qualitative measure we are to determine the success of MFI’s. Identifying what is the priority issue, even if it is a combination of factors requires willingness on behalf of both pro and anti- subsidy lobbies to concede that their approach may not be the most important. In order to transcend this discord a retrospective approach is taken to the impact of subsidies, whereby they are analysed from an initial substantive view in regard to underlying motive. I use this framework to assess microfinance in general and then apply my findings to a policy framework for microfinance institutions (MFIs) and subsidy providers.
- Description: 2003005169
The impact of subsidies on microfinance
- Authors: Langton, Jonathan
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at the 6th annual Hawaii International Conference on Business, Honolulu, Hawaii : 25th May, 2006
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: In the next ten years, society will spend $20 billion U.S. on Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Previous research on the impact of subsidies suggests that there is little if any consensus on an effective method to measure the impact of subsidies with considerable doubt existing that a financial variable is the most appropriate method. Findings suggest that in order for the impact of subsidies to be fully reconciled, some consideration must be given to the initial objectives and underlying motives of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and subsidy providers as this has an intrinsic bearing on any result they are attempting to achieve. I have attempted to shed light on a significant failure of the microfinance movement to date, in that we still have not clearly articulated by what qualitative measure we are to determine the success of MFI’s. Identifying what is the priority issue, even if it is a combination of factors requires willingness on behalf of both pro and anti- subsidy lobbies to concede that their approach may not be the most important. In order to transcend this discord a retrospective approach is taken to the impact of subsidies, whereby they are analysed from an initial substantive view in regard to underlying motive. I use this framework to assess microfinance in general and then apply my findings to a policy framework for microfinance institutions (MFIs) and subsidy providers.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003001818