Reengineering Nonprofit Financial Accountability: Toward a More Reliable Foundation for Regulation

The annual Internal Revenue Service Form 990 tax filing is the principal disclosure mechanism for nonprofit organizations. Although considerable efforts have been made to improve the accuracy and accessibility of Form 990, questions remain as to whether this data source is the most desirable foundation for a system of nonprofit accountability. Taking a broad perspective on financial accountability, this article assesses not only the quality and availability of the financial data, but also the entire financial–reporting model. The article develops a framework for thinking critically about nonprofit financial accountability. After examining the current structure of nonprofit financial reporting and contrasting it with alternative systems developed for other industries, the article concludes with recommendations for reengineering nonprofit financial accountability.     

The Role of IPAA: Public Presentation — Key Issues in Governance

In the December 1997 issue of this journal our editors expressed concern about the decline in teaching of public administration. This does not reflect any decline in the overall level of involvement by government in the economy or society. Rather it seems to reflect changing perceptions of what is needed to succeed in public administration.
This in turn raises the very important issue of what we as a society expect from our future public administrators. While many management skills are common to both business and the public sector, public administration needs to extend beyond the limits of business management to comprehend issues such as accountability, probity and policy processes. Indeed it is increasingly being recognised that what is at stake is not just management per se, but rather the broader array of relationships involved in good governance.
The Institute of Public Administration Australia has over the years played an important role in bringing practitioners and teachers together to help foster a better appreciation of these issues. Now more than ever, when the public sector is experiencing considerable change, there needs to be a lively forum where these broader issues of public administration can be debated and new approaches can be tested.
The National Council of the Institute has accordingly been considering how the Institute might encourage a wider public appreciation of good governance. In order to assist in this process and to provide some guidance to spokepersons, the Council has agreed the following Statement. We hope that all members of the Institute will find this Statement helpful and will be encouraged to promote the ideals it seeks to uphold.     

Oral sex--further information from sexual assault cases.

A survey was carried out of sexual assault cases submitted to the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory during 1988 and 1989. There were 104 cases with male victims, and 1403 with females. In the all-male offences, fellatio was reported in 34%; nearly two-thirds of the acts were by the offender, one-third by the victim. In the offences on females, oral-genital acts were alleged in 22%, 78% of which were fellatio, and 22% cunnilingus. The majority of offenders were white. The few Afro-Caribbeans studied rarely performed oral sex on males or very young females.     

Does devolution make a difference? Legislative output and policy divergence in Scotland

Devolution provides large scope for Scotland to make its own policy. Primary legislation is one measure of this. Scottish legislation before devolution tended to replicate measures for the rest of the United Kingdom, with differences of style. Scottish legislation in the first four-year term of the Parliament shows a big increase in output. There is an autonomous sphere, in which Scotland has gone its own way without reference to the rest of the UK. In other areas, there is evidence of joint or parallel policy-making, with Scottish legislation meeting the same goals by different means. Finally there is a sphere in which Scottish legislation is essentially the same as that in England and Wales. Sewel motions have not been used to impose policy uniformity on Scotland. There is evidence that devolution has shifted influence both vertically, between the UK and Scottish levels, and horizontally, within a Scottish legislative system that has been opened up.     

Accountability in Australian Government: Towards the Year 2000

This symposium is based on a workshop held at the Australian National University on 27 March 1998, sponsored by the Australia Institute, the Centre for Australian Public Centre Management at Griffith University and the Institute of Public Administration, Australia. The Political Science Program, within the Research School of Social Sciences, at the ANU provided a congenial environment for the workshop. Marian Simms is grateful to Barry Hindess for his ongoing support for the 'Accountability in Australian Government' project. More particularly Christel Cools, Louise Sims and Wayne Naughton provided technical back-up. Peter McCarthy assisted with library research. Dhammika Dharmapala made useful comments on the final version.