Abstracts Category : Other

Factors influencing the extent of accounting disclosures made in the annual reports of publicly reporting Australian not-for-profit organisations

by Ushi Ghoorah

Over the past few years, public interest in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector has increased. Following NFP-related fund misappropriation scandals making news headlines across the world, concerns have been raised about the extent to which NFPs demonstrate financial accountability in their accounting disclosures. The Australian NFP sector has been no exception to these concerns. The Australian NFP sector is large and diverse with approximately 600,000 NFPs, including 56,894 economically significant NFPs. These economically significant NFPs contribute a total value added of $54.8 billion to the Australian national accounts, by engaging in a range of activities. The four largest NFP sub-sectors operating in Australia are education and research, culture and recreation, social services, and environment: combined, these four sub-sectors account for 69.4% of the economic contributions made by NFPs to the Australian economy and for 65.9% of the goods and services provided by the Australian NFP sector. As a result of the concerns about the financial accountability of NFPs and the size of the Australian NFP sector, the financial disclosure practices of organisations operating in this sector, have attracted a lot of attention. In Australia, NFPs deal with a range of financial reporting requirements, depending on the main activities of the organisation, the jurisdiction in which the NFP operates, the legal form by which the NFP is established, among others. These different accounting disclosure requirements of Australian NFPs, lack uniformity and do not promote financial accountability, even though attempts have been make to harmonise the accounting disclosure practices among Australian NFPs. The complex and diverse financial reporting framework of Australian NFPs makes financial accountability an area of interest in the Australian context. Research related to the financial reporting practices of NFPs operating in Australia is still at its preliminary stage. Existing studies which have explored accountability in the Australian NFP sector have observed the role of annual reports in the discharge of NFP accountability, the external financial reporting environment of NFPs and a potential framework to support accountability in the NFP sector. Some recent studies have assessed the extent of NFP accountability discharged when NFPs make expenditure item disclosures, the potential survival of a national regulator in the NFP sector and the patterns involved in NFP fundraising financial reporting practices. The main objective of this study is to examine the factors which influence the extent of accounting disclosures made in the annual reports of publicly reporting Australian not-for-profit organisations (NFPs), where accounting disclosures refer to mandatory as well as voluntary financial statement information. Given the key purpose of the study, its research question is What factors influence the extent of accounting disclosures made in the annual reports of publicly reporting Australian NFPs?. The research findings associated with theAdvisors/Committee Members: Western Sydney University. School of Business (Host institution).