Charity Accounting and Reporting at a Time of Change

The charity sector comprises a vast and developing sector of the economy, and its growth in size and influence, combined with a number of highly publicised scandals, has led to increased visibility and public scrutiny. Calls have been made to improve charities’ accountability, increase public trust and confidence, and to promote the effective use of charitable funds. These calls have been accompanied by major changes in how charities are regulated.

At a time of such change, the importance of good management, accountability and governance within the charity sector cannot be overstated. Good accounting and reporting is central to this, and is central to the building of trust and confidence. Based on extensive research of the UK and Irish charity sectors, this book examines the evolution of charity accounting and reporting, and suggests how it might evolve in the future.

Written by leading academics and researchers in this area, Charity Accounting and Reporting at a Time of Change:

• reviews the charity sector in the UK and the RoI – its size, its activity and its regulation;
• explores the key issues of accountability and governance in relation to accounting and reporting by charities;
• examines the development of charity accounting and reporting, including their regulation;
• details the accounting requirements of the current Charity Statement of Recommend Practice (SORP);
• evaluates charities’ reaction to the requirements of the SORP in terms of legitimation; and
• examines the importance (and practice) of performance and impact reporting by charities.

Two chapters of the book are based on unique and new empirical work, utilising (a) interviews with key actors in the charity sector; and (b) analyses of extant reports of UK and Irish charities.

Key features of this book include:

• a profusion of examples of reporting from UK and RoI charities, and from regulatory guidance;
• relevant, illustrative extracts from Trustees’ Annual Reports and annual reports/financial statements;
• an investigation of performance-management systems in a charities context, with a broad range of performance-reporting examples, including impact/outcome, efficiency and effectiveness;
• a charity annual report and annual review checklist.

This book will be of interest and use to:

• those within the charity sector charged with implementing the SORP’s requirements, including management and boards of directors;
• their professional advisors;
• academics with an interest in the charity sector;
• policy-makers and regulators who are engaged in debates and decisions impacting on the accountability of charities.

For further information, contact publishing@charteredaccountants.ie or telephone on (+353) 01 637 7204

The Authors

Ciaran Connolly is Professor of Accounting at Queen’s University Belfast and Subject Leader for the Accounting Group in Queen’s Management School. A Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, he holds a DPhil from the University of Ulster and an MBA from Queen’s University Belfast. Ciaran’s main area of research is in the field of public services, particularly the financial and performance measurement aspects of the charity and public sectors, and he has published extensively in this area. He is currently on the board of a large Northern Ireland charity and was a member of the Department for Social Development (Northern Ireland)/Charity Commission for Northern Ireland Accounts and Reports Working Group during 2014 and 2015.

Noel Hyndman is Professor of Management Accounting (and Director of the Centre for Not-for-profit and Public-sector Research) at Queen’s University in Belfast. He has previously held professorships at the University of Ottawa in Canada, the University of Sydney in Australia and the University of Ulster. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, he was awarded a PhD for his research in financial reporting by charities. Noel was a member of the Annual Reporting Advisory Group established by the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales between 2003 and 2005 and has been a member of the Charity SORP Committee since 2006. He was a member of the Department for Social Development (Northern Ireland)/Charity Commission for Northern Ireland Accounts and Reports Working Group during 2014 and 2015. Currently, he is Chair of the British Accounting and Finance Association’s Public Services and Charities Special Interest Group.

Mariannunziata Liguori is Senior Lecturer in Management Accounting and Director of the MSc Accounting and Finance at Queen’s Management School, Belfast, where she moved after a visiting period at the University of Alberta in Canada. She was awarded a PhD, investigating processes and organisational dynamics of accounting change in the public sector, by Bocconi University, Milan, where she has also previously worked. Mariannunziata is a member of the editorial board of the public-sector and not-for-profit journal Financial Accountability Management. She has been the secretary of the Public Services and Charities Special Interest Group of the British Accounting and Finance Association since 2015.