This page outlines the conditions that the ACNC has for group reporting. Group reporting is when charities submit one Annual Information Statement (and annual financial report, if applicable) to the ACNC on behalf of a group.
Group reporting conditions
Charities that have been approved to report to the ACNC as a group must meet five conditions.
Approval to report to the ACNC as a group is subject to review, but once an approval is granted, it will continue until we notify the group otherwise. If a reporting group fails to comply with any relevant conditions, we may remove our approval for group reporting.
Approval for group reporting only relates to your ACNC reporting obligations. Any reporting obligations to other Commonwealth, state or territory agencies will continue unchanged.
Condition 1
A reporting group’s annual financial report must comply with the Australian Accounting Standard AASB 10 Consolidated Financial Statements and AASB 12 Disclosure of Interest in Other Entities to the full extent possible.
If a reporting group is not in full compliance with these two standards, it must include a disclosure note in its annual financial report that explains why there has not been full compliance, as well as the extent to which full compliance was impracticable.
Condition 2
If a reporting group includes members that:
- are endorsed as deductible gift recipients (DGR), or
- operate DGR funds
they must be specifically identified as such in the annual financial report.
Condition 3
Condition 3 only applies if a reporting group’s annual financial report includes entities that are not charities registered with the ACNC. In this situation we will accept a consolidated financial report as the group annual financial report.
However, this report must clearly indicate which financial information relates to the ACNC-registered charities and which financial information relates to entities that are not registered.
When Condition 3 applies, a reporting group must include a disclosure note in its annual financial report that specifies the financial information of the ACNC-registered charities and the financial information of the entities not registered with the ACNC in the annual financial report.
This disclosure note must be presented in the form of a table. The ACNC has developed a template table that groups can download and use in their disclosure note.
The reporting group must only use the financial information that has been designated in the annual financial report as relating to ACNC-registered charities when completing the financial questions in the Annual Information Statement.
If the financial information of non-registered entities is immaterial for the ACNC reporting group as a whole, a reconciliation table will not be necessary. However, a disclosure note must instead be provided that states the financial information relating to non-registered entities is immaterial for the overall ACNC reporting group.
Condition 4
If a reporting group prepares a Special Purpose Financial Statement, it must adopt AASB Standard 124 Related Party Disclosures in full. This means the notes to the financial statement prepared for the reporting group must include disclosures about related party transactions and the remuneration of key management personnel.
Condition 4 will not affect reporting groups that:
- are not required to submit financial statements (where all members of the group are small charities), or
- prepare a full General Purpose Financial Statement, or a General Purpose Financial Statements – Simplified Disclosures Standard (as these should already comply with AASB 124 or AASB 1060).
Condition 5
All reporting groups must comply with ACNC reporting obligations, particularly the requirement to submit the Annual Information Statement by the due date.
The ACNC will review the approval of reporting groups that are late submitting their Annual Information Statement and financial report for two reporting periods, unless the ACNC Commissioner approves an extension. The reporting periods in question do not need to be consecutive.