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This paper aims to explore the governance and performance reporting practices of Scottish charities at a time of unprecedented legislative and regulatory reform. Such reforms include the revision of the SORP governing charity reporting and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act which led to the establishment of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

This paper provides a descriptive examination of the Trustees' Reports (TRs) produced by a sample of Scottish charities; this assessment was facilitated by means of a content analysis of these documents following the introduction of the new regulatory regime.

The findings indicate that the regime change had a significant impact on the provision of performance, governance and accountability-related information in Scottish charities' TRs.

The paper provides the first detailed descriptive account of reporting practices across a range of charities in Scotland at a time of unprecedented regulatory change.

This paper aims to examine the accountability practices of large United Kingdom (UK) charities through public discourse.

Based on the ethical model of stakeholder theory, the paper develops a framework for classifying not‐for‐profit (NFP) accountability and analyzes the content of the annual reports and annual reviews of a sample of large UK charities using this framework.

The results suggest that contrary to the ethical model of stakeholder theory, the sample charities' accountability practices are motivated by a desire to legitimize their activities and present their organizations' activities in a positive light. These results contradict the raison d'être of NFP organizations (NFPOs) and the values that they espouse.

Understanding the nature of accountability reporting in NFPOs has important implications for preparers and policy makers involved in furthering the NFP agenda. New research needs to examine shifts in accountability practices over time and assess the impact of the recent self‐regulation developed to enhance sector accountability.

This paper contributes to the NFP accountability literature by: first, developing a framework of NFP accountability through public discourse using the ethical model of stakeholder theory; and second, advancing the understanding of the accountability practices of large UK charities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether, how and why ethical investment practices of charities differ between two countries with quite different ideological and institutional frameworks – Norway and the UK.

The paper uses mixed methods and a cross-sectional field study design to explore the ethical investment practices of 300 of the largest charities by investments in the UK and Norway. Practices are theorized using the dual lens of institutional theory and social origins theory.

The paper provides evidence on why charities established the practice of ethical investment. The results show that large charities were more likely to have an ethical policy; that charities with moderate public sector funding were more likely to have an ethical policy. In line with institutional theory some Norwegian charities with public sector funding mimic the policy of the Government Pension Fund, and the ethical investment policy of Norwegian charities was more influenced by donors. Institutional entrepreneurs (charity founders) had a more prominent influence in UK charities.

The paper highlights that more research is needed on sovereign wealth funds, their investment practices and how they affect charities.

The findings of this paper highlight the potential role that the ethical investment practices of sovereign can play a soft regulatory function in changing the behaviour of other investors.

To the extent that ethical investment practices are construed as having a positive social impact, then this study shows how a government sovereign wealth fund can influence the spread of ethical investment practices.

This paper, which sits at the nexus of the charity and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literatures, contributes by responding to calls for more research on charity practices in different countries and CSR practices in different countries. This comparison also contributes to the development of institutional theory by shedding light on the institutional influence of a sovereign wealth fund and its impact on others. The paper will be of value to academics, policy setters and regulators.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain insights from preparers on the new Performance Report requirements for New Zealand registered Tiers 3 and 4 charities, in particular the non-financial information included in the ‘Entity Information’ section and the ‘Statement of Service Performance’.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 interviewees, each involved with governance and reporting of one or more Tiers 3- or 4-registered charities. These interviews were analysed in terms of accountability and legitimacy objectives, which motivated the regulators to introduce the new reporting regime.

Key findings are summarised under three themes. Manageability relates to perceptions and suggestions regarding implementation of the new requirements. Scepticism concerns some doubts raised by interviewees regarding the motivations for performance reports and the extent to which they will be used. Effects include concerns about potentially losing good charities and volunteers because of new requirements making their work ‘too hard’, although an increased focus on outcomes creates the potential for continuous improvement.

The subjectivity that is inherent in thematic analysis is acknowledged and also that multiple themes may sometimes be present in the sentences and paragraphs analysed. The authors acknowledge too that early viewpoints may change over time.

Themes identified may assist regulators, professional bodies and support groups to respond to the views of preparers. Findings will also be of interest to parties in other jurisdictions who are considering the implementation of similar initiatives.

This paper provides early insights on new reporting requirements entailing significant changes for New Zealand registered charities for financial periods beginning on or after April 2015. The focus is on small registered charities (97 per cent of all New Zealand registered charities) and key aspects of the Performance Report: Entity Information and the Statement of Service Performance.

This paper aims to explore a narrative disclosure by Muslim charity organisations (MCOs) in the UK.

Using content analysis, this study assesses disclosure in MCOs’ trustee annual reports against the Statement of Recommended Reporting Practices (SORP) for charities using perspectives from accountability including the Islamic concept of accountability.

The findings suggest disclosure to be limited in showing how transactions and activities comply with the mandatory reporting requirements. Hence, MCOs need to increase their awareness of regulatory and sector challenges, as well as self-scrutiny of their current narrative reporting practices, especially in showing their mandatory reporting and hence religious accountability.

The paper provides important empirical data on the status quo of reporting practice by this important sub-sector. The paper provides a systematic analysis of the way trustee annual reports (TARs) are presented by MCOs and also provides a comprehensive framework for a better understanding of the minimum accountability requirements incumbent upon all charity organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine charity regulatory systems, including accounting standard setting, across five jurisdictions in varying stages of adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, and identifies the challenges of this process.

Using a regulatory space approach, this paper relies on publicly available archival evidence from charity regulators and accounting standard setters in five common‐law jurisdictions in advanced capitalist economies, all with vibrant charity sectors: the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The study reveals the importance of co‐operative interdependence and dialogue between charity regulators and accounting standard setters, indicating that jurisdictions with such inter‐relationships will better manage the transition to IFRS. It also highlights the need for those jurisdictions with not‐for‐profit or charity‐specific accounting standards to re‐configure those provisions as IFRSs are adopted.

The study is limited to five jurisdictions, concentrating specifically on key charity regulators and accounting standard setters. Future research could widen the scope to other jurisdictions, or track changes in the jurisdictions longitudinally.

This paper provides a timely international perspective of charity regulation and accounting developments for regulators, accounting standard setters and charities, specifically of regulatory responses to IFRS adoption.

The paper contributes fresh insights into the dynamics of charity accounting regulation in an international context by using regulatory space as an organising framework. While accounting regulation literature provides a rich interpretation of regulatory issues within the accounting arena, little attention has been paid to charity accounting regulation.

This research explores the use of the internet, a mechanism that provides the opportunity to reach vast audiences efficiently and cost effectively, by United Kingdom (UK) charities to discharge accountability.

This research combines a content analysis of the web sites of large UK charities and semi-structured interviews with key charity personnel responsible for the formulation and dissemination of information to stakeholders.

The results indicate that, in most cases, charity web sites, as accountability mechanisms, appear to play a wide role, being directed at both upward and downward stakeholders. However, while the web sites are usually professionally created with appropriate web site presentation and page design, the discharge of fiduciary accountability via the internet is not universal.

This research focuses on large UK charities. This, together with the nature of the items captured by the content analysis checklist and the semi-structured interviews, inevitably affects its generalisability.

Accepting that charities have a duty to account to their stakeholders, and that the input of accounting practitioners is vital in this process, this research extends our understanding of how the internet is employed by charities to fulfil this duty.

The charity sector has grown extensively in size and prominence in recent years and policymakers have come to embrace the role that charities play in societal development. This paper provides a crucial insight into the discharge of accountability by charities through the internet.

Charities are becoming recognised as playing an important part in communities by furthering government's social objectives through increasing support to disadvantaged members of society. As charities multiply in number, it becomes increasingly difficult for fund providers and contributors to determine which charity to support. In New Zealand there is a move towards providing public access to the financial accounts of charities to assist stakeholders in their decision making and to enhance transparency in charities. However, this assumes that these financial accounts are understandable by all stakeholders. This paper aims to identify four problems that limit the way forward for financial reporting by New Zealand charities.

The first section of the paper comprises a review of the literature on charities' financial accounts with a particular focus on the four problems identified above. The paper then reports the results of eight interviews with charitable organisations, auditors and academics that have expertise in charity financial reporting, with a particular emphasis on the four identified problems.

There was agreement that unresolved, these four problems could limit the way forward in financial reporting by New Zealand charities. Some recommendations are proposed that suggest a way forward with regard to these problems, so that the users of the financial reports of charities may benefit.

Highlights a need for further research into these problems to identify the feasibility of the proposed recommendations.

The enactment of the Charities Act 2005 in New Zealand and its requirement to include financial accounts on a publicly available register has raised the profile of the financial reports of charities. However, there has been limited research into the financial reporting by New Zealand charities, so this paper is a timely evaluation of four specific problems that could limit the way forward of financial reporting by New Zealand charities.

The purpose of this study is to examine accounting and management practices in two Indonesian awqaf institutions. It intends to seek evidence with regard to how mutawallis discharge their accountability.

Two case studies were undertaken on two awqaf institutions in Indonesia, i.e. ABC and XYZ waqf foundations. Data were collected through various methods, i.e. interviews, document reviews and direct observations.

The findings show that ABC shows more efficient management and greater transparency and accountability than XYZ due to the presence of Islamically committed professionals in the former, despite the better accounting information system and more “academically” qualified personnel in the latter.

This study only concentrates on two Indonesian awqaf institutions.

This study is expected to contribute to the improvement of waqf administration.

The paper is the first attempt to address accounting issues in awqaf institutions, particularly in Indonesia.

This paper aims to measure the financial sustainability and vulnerability of state-managed waqf institutions in Malaysia.

The study mainly applied the commonly used Tuckman and Chang’s (1991) model to measure the financial health of non-profits. Content and ratio analysis of the 2014 audited reports of seven institutions were used to determine their equity balance, revenue concentration, administrative costs and operating margin ratios.

The results indicate that only one waqf institution was financially sustainable in all the four components.

Because the data used are not the latest and focussed only on a single year, the findings may not be necessarily true, currently. Second, the study focussed only on Malaysia. Thus, the results may not be generalisable to other waqfs in other countries or to privately managed waqf institutions. Accordingly, future research should address these limitations.

The findings provide useful insights into the financial sustainability of waqf institutions and highlight the need for policymakers in Malaysia and other Muslim countries to give due attention to the holistic accountability of waqf institutions to ensure waqf’s systematic revival.

The paper, being the first to investigate the financial sustainability and vulnerability of state waqf institutions in Malaysia, serves as a reference for future researchers.