Research Horizons for Public and Private Not-for-profit Reporting: Moving the Bar in the Right Direction

The examination of public and private not-for-profit sector financial reporting has been a topic of interest on a cyclical basis in Australia over the last thirty years. Traditional topics have included examinations of the intended and unintended consequences of specific standards, the accountability value of financial reports, transaction neutrality and compliance with the accounting standards, and more recently, the prospective implications of new, differently-focused reporting standards considering such issues as income measurement and outcomes reporting. With increased recent attention from standard-setters and regulators and greater data availability, the opportunities for undertaking impactful research in these and related areas are increasing. In this paper we focus on research that has examined the following questions: : (1) Which private and public NFPOs lodge financial reports and what is reported; (2) Who are the users and what are their information needs?; (3) Which private and public NFPs should lodge financial reports and what should be included in them; and (4) How should the accounting frameworks for NFP sector reporting be set? For each of these issues we identify the research gaps and opportunities for further research.