Thousands of Charities Complete AIS
28 November 2013 at 9:38 am
More than 6,000 charities have now submitted the controversial Annual Information Statement (AIS) to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission with another 4,000 still in progress.
"We are delighted to see such a diligent response from the sector, given this is the first time charities have been asked to report to a national regulator,” ACNC Commissioner Susan Pascoe AM said.
"Tuesday we had a record-breaking day, with 112 organisations submitting their 2013 Annual Information Statements on the one day.
"Completing your 2013 Annual Information Statement automatically pre-populates a Not for Profits 2014 AIS.
“That means you don’t have to enter any of the details that haven’t changed next year.”
The 2013 Annual Information Statement (AIS) marks the first time all 58,000 Australian registered charities have been required to report to a single national regulator.
The AIS asks registered charities 20 questions about what they did and who they helped in the community over the past 12 months. The information charities provide is then uploaded on to the ACNC Register for the public to use.
Earlier this year critics claimed the AIS added yet another level of red tape to the sector.
The ACNC says that more than 65 per cent of the first 6,000 organisations to submit their AIS were small charities, with annual revenue of $250,000 or less.
Medium charities (with annual revenue of between $250,000 and $1 million) and large charities (annual revenue over $1 million) made up roughly 20 per cent each.
On top of the 6,000 that had already submitted their AIS, 3,766 more charities have already begun filling theirs in online, taking the total close to 10,000.
The ACNC says it is analysing all of the information submitted to gain a clearer picture of Australia’s Not for Profit sector, and will be publishing its analysis in the coming weeks.
Commissioner Pascoe said it was important to remember only charities that use a standard reporting period – that is, whose financial year runs from July 1 to June 30 – need to fill in their 2013 AIS before March 31, 2014.
Charities that use the calendar year as their financial reporting period must wait until after December 31 to begin filling in their AIS, and they have until June 30, 2014 to submit it.
Detailed information on reporting is available on www.acnc.gov.au
