Understandability and Transparency of the Financial Statements of ...

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Triangulation of data collection was also achieved in this study by using media interviews to triangulate the interviews and the literature review (Deegan, Rankin, & Tobin, 2002; Taylor & Bogdan, 1998). For, as Eisenberg (2008, p. 1) says: For a decade, the print media have been the only effective mechanism for keeping non-profit organisations open and accountable. Without continued media focus on the non-profit sector, charities and foundations are likely to revert to old habits. Scandals, inappropriate behaviour and excessive compensation are still a regrettable part of our non-profit world. Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggest „prolonged engagement‟ as a method to confirm credibility, as this means the researcher is involved with the topic long enough to detect, and take account of, distortions that might otherwise creep into the data. This was seen in this research where interviews took place over a prolonged period, i.e. September 2008 to February 2010. The use of follow-up interviews also enabled the researcher to keep engaged with the interviewee for longer: for example, one interviewee was initially interviewed 8 th April 2009 and the final follow-up was 24 th February 2010. Credibility was also achieved in this research by identifying different possible theories that could provide appropriate explanations of the research findings. The process of this theorisation lead to identifying accountability theory as the most likely to be relevant to the research questions identified in section 4.2. Next, transferability in terms of data evaluation is considered. 4.7.2 Transferability Transferability relates to ensuring that the context of the study is understood and is the qualitative equivalent to the quantative concept of „external validity‟. It shifts the responsibility for „transfer‟ of the research findings from the researcher to the reader (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This study establishes transferability by providing as much information as possible about the research study to support the findings which were included in this thesis and allow „the reader‟ to generalise these across the charities sector. 4.7.3 Dependability Maxwell (1992) considered that it is important to understand phenomena from an „emic‟ perspective, i.e. from the interviewees‟ perspective, not the researcher‟s. It is the qualitative equivalent to the quantative concept of „reliability‟. 94
To assure the study was dependable a couple of techniques were utilised. First, a semi- structured interview guide enabled the comparability of the semi-structured interviews (Appendix Three) by asking the same question of each semi-structured interviewee (Patton, 1990). Second, interviews were assessed to determine whether there was any incidence of inquirer bias, in particular if the interviewee was not allowed to finish their statement (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Unfortunately, this study found two instances of interviews in the earlier stages of data collection where the interviewee was „cut-off‟. Fortunately, in both cases the interviewee said that they hadn‟t finished their point yet and a valuable lesson was learnt, i.e. to wait for the interviewee to finish. Finally, whether there was any conflicting evidence that disproved the claim of saturation was considered and none was found. 4.7.4 Confirmability Confirmability is the degree to which the actual description holds true or is logical (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2005), i.e. that the researcher is not making up or distorting things the interviewees say. Confirmability is the qualitative equivalent to the quantative concept of „objectivity‟. This study assessed whether findings were grounded in the data by preparing a table that linked findings to specific interviewees, which confirmed each finding. This table also included any media interviews as well as the interviews conducted in this research as further support for the findings. The ethical implications will be discussed in the next section. 4.8 Ethical implications In accordance with the ethical guidelines issued by the Auckland University of Technology‟s Ethics Committee (AUTEC) ethical approval was required because this research involved human participants. Application was made and ethical approval was granted by AUTEC (Appendix Two). Their reference 08/18 dated 29 February 2008 has to be included on the Informed Consent form (Appendix Four), the Participant Information sheet (Appendix Five) and the Transcriber Confidentiality agreement (Appendix Six). In accordance with the ethical principles, privacy and confidentiality have been and will continue to be respected throughout this research and publication 95
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Understandability and Transparency
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CHAPTER 2: REGULATORY & CONCEPTUAL
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4.3.3 Axiom 3 - The possibility of
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6.6 Summary .......................
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Appendix One - Statement of Financi
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Abbreviations AASB Australian Accou
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Related Research Outputs The follow
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Acknowledgements My journey through
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Abstract Access to charities‟ fin
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introdu
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More importantly the study will loo
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Unerman and O‟Dwyer (2008, p. 801
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adopted here is clarified, as the l
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March 1999. Further, a study by the
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those by: Vatter (1947); Anthony (1
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CHAPTER 2: REGULATORY & CONCEPTUAL
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(k) The erection, laying out, maint
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Before looking at the legal structu
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2.3.4 Problems As with charity nome
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yet to be determined. This ensures
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per annum (Charities Commission, 20
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certain cases there will be concept
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The focus of the Charities Commissi
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Unlike incorporated societies, the
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2.4.4.4 Future conceptual framework
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problems with New Zealand‟s regul
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This research seeks to identify if
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charities” (Charity Commission, 2
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statements in different documents t
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seek to identify whether a lack of
Page 61 and 62: In the international arena transpar
Page 63 and 64: elevance is compromised. The link b
Page 65 and 66: 3.2 Complexities in Charities’ Fi
Page 67 and 68: 3.2.1 Accounting basis The „Accou
Page 69 and 70: application of the appropriate GAAP
Page 71 and 72: length transaction”. This definit
Page 73 and 74: There are four arguments against de
Page 75 and 76: Financial Accounting Standards Boar
Page 77 and 78: al., 2008; Newberry, 1992; Rees & D
Page 79 and 80: However, the notion of control is a
Page 81 and 82: Kilcullen et al., 2007b). Charities
Page 83 and 84: the amount of money spent on admini
Page 85 and 86: This research seeks to identify wha
Page 87 and 88: As a result of the literature revie
Page 89 and 90: the elements of the world, or rathe
Page 91 and 92: come about through the mutually sim
Page 93 and 94: Research reports from other organis
Page 95 and 96: clearer picture of the interviewee
Page 97 and 98: In England, Palmer and Randall (200
Page 99 and 100: APPROACHING PARTICIPANTS Within the
Page 101 and 102: availability of charities‟ financ
Page 103 and 104: As credibility was usually achieved
Page 105 and 106: clarifications. This approach was u
Page 107 and 108: to understand the meaning behind an
Page 109 and 110: analysis is both complete and impar
Page 111: subjective realities (Chua, 1986).
Page 115 and 116: CHAPTER 5: ACCOUNTABILITY 5.1 Intro
Page 117 and 118: emphasis on the definition of accou
Page 119 and 120: supposition was that a lack of resp
Page 121 and 122: general public (Charity Commission,
Page 123 and 124: assumes the other is monitoring the
Page 125 and 126: performance reporting rather than f
Page 127 and 128: appropriate performance information
Page 129 and 130: examiners and the Charities‟ Boar
Page 131 and 132: which was set up in 2003. Charity a
Page 133 and 134: Western Australia, all financial st
Page 135 and 136: The fourth level of independent exa
Page 137 and 138: What are the major areas of concern
Page 139 and 140: subset of good accountability pract
Page 141 and 142: Programme refers to a meeting of ob
Page 143 and 144: ecording property, plant and equipm
Page 145 and 146: Figure 6-2 Dimensions of Financial
Page 147 and 148: Because the [charity‟s] finances
Page 149 and 150: „selling a story‟ makes them fo
Page 151 and 152: that you can use it [the stove] for
Page 153 and 154: the organisation pay to have those
Page 155 and 156: contributors twice - first to fund
Page 157 and 158: There is a need to record restricte
Page 159 and 160: charity will have control of a seco
Page 161 and 162: of accountants involved in Charitie
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their decision making. One auditor
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Whilst the sample in this thesis is
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Another problem my study found was
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framework funders would not be able
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The lack of professionalism must be
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New Zealand‟s charitable purpose
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We have since February of last year
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analysis was done of the first comp
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Also the idea of members „taking
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The transparency of their organisat
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7.3 Monitoring As discussed in Chap
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Zealand] Statistics Department poin
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There was a sub-committee running [
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useful for smaller organisation and
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change and they‟re doing a good j
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problem that you‟ve [pause] we‟
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legislation and monitoring. Of part
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CHAPTER 8: PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILI
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In New Zealand both the Controller
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what proportion of their charitable
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None of the above reasons includes
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Charities Commission publication
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achieve an appropriate level of per
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more effectively in order to increa
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eneficiaries‟ needs are met is an
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As well as setting aside reserves,
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The important aspect of the propose
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Mostly they [the funders] are worki
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eyond financial health to include
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8.4.4 Prescribed performance report
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impact they have on their beneficia
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statements, but also other mechanis
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compare different charitable organi
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shock when their accounts are eithe
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9.4 Academic Contribution This rese
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Outcomes (Effectiveness) Figure 9-1
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Charities Register, of which thirty
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success in their activities. For as
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Ahrens, T., & Chapman, C. S. (2006)
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Australian Accounting Standards Boa
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Bradbury, M. E., & Baskerville, R.
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Charities Commission. (2009f). A sn
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commission.gov.uk/Our_regulatory_ac
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Cordery, C. J., & Baskerville, R. (
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Eisenberg, P. (Ed.). (2005). Challe
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Fremont-Smith, M. R. (2004). Pillag
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Hui, D. (2006). Financial Reporting
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http://www.ifac.org/Members/DownLoa
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Maxwell, J. A. (1992). Understandin
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http://www.nzica.com/AM/Template.cf
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O'Sullivan, N., & O'Dwyer, B. (2009
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Robson, C. (1993). Real World Resea
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Television New Zealand (Writer) (27
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Appendix One - Statement of Financi
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Appendix Three - Semi-structured in
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Appendix Five - Participant informa
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Appendix Six - Transcriber’s Conf
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Heading 1 Heading 2 Heading 3 Prope
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