Accounting Narratives: The Reporting Practices of British Charities

Abstract

This research examines the disclosure patterns of narrative information in the annual reports of the top 100 fundraising charities in the United Kingdom. While the role and disclosure patterns of accounting narratives have been examined in the corporate and public sectors, there is little research in the context of charities despite the annual report being one of the most important documents made available to charity contributors. Using prior research and recommendations of the Charity Commission, a checklist was developed to collect data through content analysis. The results of the research indicate that charities more readily provide information that can be collectively described as discharging fiduciary accountability than information that discharges managerial accountability, with disclosure practices being influenced by charity size, type and performance. \n \nOverall, while charities do provide some relevant information to discharge accountability to stakeholders, there is considerable scope to improve narrative reporting practices.

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