Charities Take Up ACNC Registration
3 April 2014 at 10:11 am
More than 25,000 of an estimated 30,000 charities have registered their first Annual Information Statement with the charity regulator but latecomers won’t be let off the hook.
ACNC Commissioner Susan Pascoe AM has thanked charities for completing their first annual reporting requirement and expects as many as 27,000 charities to complete the process in coming weeks.
“Your input is helping us capture valuable data about the charitable sector that was previously unavailable,” she said.
“This information is building Australia’s first accurate, national register of charities. This is freely available online to the community, providing new levels of transparency and accountability.
“The ACNC is seeing a very high level of compliance in its first round of reporting, with over 83 per cent of charities submitting their reports on time.”
However, Pascoe said the ACNC would be sending notices of advice to charities who have not submitted their AIS in the hope that they will avoid penalties.
A number of charities also completed the optional questions and volunteered to provide their financial reports and governance information.
“20 per cent of charities took the additional step of including their financial reports with their Annual Information Statement, and over 22,000 have submitted their governance documents. All of these are published on the Charity Register,” she said.
“Although this is not yet compulsory, it is useful information that helps to increase our knowledge of charities and their modes of operation. This information is useful to donors, funders and the broader community,” Pascoe said.
“Charities, with a 1 July to 30 June reporting period, that have not completed their Annual Information Statement are urged to do so as soon as possible.”
The next ACNC reporting deadline is for charities that report on a calendar year, from January to December. For these charities, the 2013 Annual Information Statement is due by June 30.
The information is available on the ACNC Register – ACNC.gov.au/findacharity and forms the ‘Charity Passport’ which is offered free of charge to all other State and Federal Government agencies.
Legislation to abolish the ACNC under the Federal Government Repeal omnibus has been referred to the Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry.
The move was decided by the Selection of Bills Committee and is not expected to report back to Parliament until June 16, 2014.
