This page provides guidance about reporting to the ACNC through:
- group reporting – when a group of registered charities submit one Annual information Statement and financial report on behalf of the whole group
- bulk lodgement – when multiple registered charities submit more than one Annual Information Statement on a single form.
Group reporting
Your charity can report as a group in one of two ways:
- joint reporting – when your charity, as part of a group of registered charities, submits one Annual Information Statement and one financial report (if applicable)
- collective reporting – when your charity, as part of a group of registered charities, submits one or more Annual Information Statement or financial report on another basis (for example, according to types of activities).
You must apply to the ACNC for joint or collective reporting.
As part of our decision process, we will consider your application against a number of factors. These include the public interest in transparency and accountability, and our ability to assess compliance.
If your application for group reporting is successful, the charities will continue to report as a reporting group unless they choose to end the group reporting arrangement, or the ACNC decides to revoke permission to report as a group.
To apply for group reporting, use Form 4B: Request group reporting.
To submit the Group Annual Information Statement, log in to the Charity Portal and click on the name of the reporting group, then go to 'Manage reporting'.
Group reporting conditions
Charities that are approved for group reporting must adhere to certain group reporting conditions.
Reporting groups will also be subject to annual reviews, and where a reporting group fails to comply with any relevant conditions, we may remove the approval to report as a group.
As group reporting conditions are subject to change, reporting groups should review the group reporting conditions when preparing their Annual Information Statement each year.
Charity size and group reporting
Charity size is based on a charity’s annual revenue for the reporting period. Reporting obligations vary depending on charity size.
The size of a reporting groups is based on the size of its largest charity:
- large if one or more of the charities in the group is large
- medium if one or more of the charities in the group is medium and none is large, or
- small if none of the charities in the group are medium or large.
Bulk lodgement
Bulk lodgement is the process that allows you to submit more than one Annual Information Statement on behalf of multiple registered charities on a single form.
This is common for organisations such as a corporate trustees administrating multiple trusts, or a denomination administration office for multiple religious charities.
Unlike group reporting, charities with a bulk lodgement arrangement report information for each specific charity on an individual basis – the information is just submitted on one form.
To apply for bulk lodgement, send a request to reporting@acnc.gov.au.
Submitting the bulk Annual Information Statement
Bulk Annual Information Statements are submitted to the ACNC via email.
Bulk lodgement aims to reduce the administrative burden for charities. Therefore, there is an expectation that those using bulk lodgement submit the Annual Information Statement on time.
If a bulk submission is late, we may not be able to offer the option in the future.
Uploading multiple financial reports
Approved bulk lodgers should contact us by emailing reporting@acnc.gov.au if they wish to submit their charities' financial reports via a secure file transfer process.