Understandability and Transparency of the Financial Statements of ...

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(Sekaran, 2003). One type of non-probability sampling is purposive sampling where information is obtained from specific target groups as opposed to convenience sampling where participants are more readily, or conveniently, available. In qualitative research the purpose is seldom to arrive at statistically valid conclusions from probability sampling of the population (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2005). Rather it is to understand, gain insights and create explanations. Patton (2002) considered that qualitative research usually focuses in depth on small samples selected purposefully i.e. purposive sampling. Purposive sampling has certain particular characteristics (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). First, there is no prior specification of what the sample size is. Second, there is a serial selection of participants as maximum variation is best achieved by selecting each participant only after the previous participant has been interviewed. Third, as insights and information accumulate the researcher begins to develop working hypotheses and the sample may be adjusted to focus more on those participants that seem most relevant. However, in some cases the research will focus less on particular areas. This happened in this research where there were an overwhelming number of offers received from potential interviewees connected to a variety of „faith-based‟ organisations. Consideration was given to adding more interviewees from „faith-based‟ organisations, but the decision was made that this would bias the results, so regretfully the offers were declined. Patton (2002) identifies many different types of purposeful sampling including: (1) extreme or deviant case sampling, (2) intensity sampling, (3) heterogeneity sampling, (4) homogeneous sampling, (5) snowball or chain sampling, (6) criterion sampling. For the purposes of this research, sampling was via a „snowballing‟ approach, i.e. getting to know some participants and having them introduce you to others (Taylor & Bogdan, 1998). In this research, to ensure quality, the key to snowballing was to locate information-rich key informants and ask them to recommend people for you to interview. However, one of the potential drawbacks of the snowball technique was that it can limit the diversity of informants. To lessen this potential drawback, participants were also recruited via direct approaches (Taylor & Bogdan, 1998) through the attendance at relevant meetings and courses of organisations such as the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants, the New Zealand Charities Commission and Community and Voluntary Sector Research forums. 80
APPROACHING PARTICIPANTS Within the charities sector, finding persons who were willing to be interviewed proved quite difficult, as the charities sector lends itself to personal introductions, i.e. soft doors, rather than a commercial „cold-calling‟ for interviews. As one interviewee put it: It‟s the soft doors that make the [charities] sector work actually, it‟s how you find a soft door into any sort of organisation. Thus there was a need to create a profile in the charities sector by developing networks. Networks were developed from: the Community and Voluntary Sector Research forums run by Association of Non-Governmental Organisations of Aotearoa (ANGOA) in Auckland and Wellington; attendance at the 9 th Biennial Australia and New Zealand Third Sector Research (ANZTSR) conference; and membership of NZICA‟s Not-for- Profit Sector Advisory Committee (NFPSAC) which facilitated links to umbrella organisations in the charities sector such as, Philanthropy New Zealand, Fundraising Institute of New Zealand, Volunteering New Zealand, New Zealand Council of Social Services and Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisation. Preparing submissions on policy issues within the charities sector also increased the profile of the researcher in the charities sector. Submissions were made either individually or as part of NZICA‟s NFPSAC and included submissions to the Accounting Standard Review Board, Ministry of Economic Development, Inland Revenue Department, Charities Commission and NZICA‟s Financial Reporting Standards Board (Cordery & Sinclair, 2010a, 2010b; Not-for-Profit Sector Advisory Committee, 2009a, 2009b, 2009d, 2009e, 2009f, 2009g, 2009h; Sinclair, 2006, 2007a, 2007b). Building relationships and then agreeing on an interview time and place took time and resulted in interviews over a long period of time, i.e. September 2008 to February 2010. In this research, if there had been no face-to-face discussion with the potential interviewee about the research, an email was initially sent to them explaining the purpose of the research and describing the type of information that the research was concerned with, by utilising the Participation Information Sheet (Appendix Five). In this email the interviewee was asked if they were willing to be part of this research and be interviewed for a period of not more than one hour (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2005). As well as attaching the participation information sheet the informed consent form (Appendix Four) was attached, but only two interviewees completed them ahead of time, which meant that these were completed at the interview (section 4.5.2). If the interviewee‟s contact details were provided by a previous interviewee, through snowballing, the email 81
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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
Page 47 and 48: Unlike incorporated societies, the
Page 49 and 50: 2.4.4.4 Future conceptual framework
Page 51 and 52: problems with New Zealand‟s regul
Page 53 and 54: This research seeks to identify if
Page 55 and 56: charities” (Charity Commission, 2
Page 57 and 58: statements in different documents t
Page 59 and 60: 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: In England, Palmer and Randall (200
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 and 112: subjective realities (Chua, 1986).
Page 113 and 114: To assure the study was dependable
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
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„selling a story‟ makes them fo
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that you can use it [the stove] for
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the organisation pay to have those
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contributors twice - first to fund
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There is a need to record restricte
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charity will have control of a seco
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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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