For many not-for-profit organisations, maintaining the best financial practices while also achieving their core mission can be difficult. Some fail to strike a balance due to a lack of in-house expertise, and others struggle with the complicated rules.

A major independent new report co-published by Justice Connect’s #FixFundraising coalition and the Charities Crisis Cabinet reveals that over 600 charities and community organisations surveyed are drowning in red tape because of outdated fundraising laws.

During the pandemic, one sector that has suffered dramatically has been not-for-profit. Those organisations that relied on events or fundraising activities that simply do not work with social distancing have had to pivot and look at innovative ways to keep moving forward.

The focus of Part 1 of this guide is the statutory financial reporting and assurance obligations applicable to registered charities, as set out in the ACNC Act and the ACNC Consequential and Transitional Act and the accompanying financial reporting regulations.

There is a general consensus that, by the mid-2020’s, most of the business systems will be cloud-based. But will they be multi-tenanted or hosted?  In the early adoption of Cloud based systems, there were reasons to go cloud hosted - those reasons have been eroded over the past decade with true Cloud (multi-tenanted) rapidly overtaking Cloud hosted.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has revamped the searchability of its charity register, enhancing the way donors and volunteers can connect with their preferred organisation.

Today’s CFOs have diversified their responsibilities, embracing non-traditional skills, implementing emerging technologies and championing purpose-led initiatives.

You’ll have an extra step to take if you have new employees who start from 1 November 2021 and they don’t choose a super fund.  You may now need to request their ‘stapled super fund’ details from the ATO. 

The ATO has issued personalised refund of franking credits application packages to eligible organisations that applied for, and received, a refund in the previous financial year. Contact the ATO if your organisation wants to apply for a refund of franking credits but you haven’t received a refund package. You can also phone the ATO to request replacement forms.

As a finance futurist, Nunzio Giunta CPA has embraced technological changes in his industry, but he also looks forward to a new era for finance, in which emotional intelligence and sound communication are upheld as much as analytical expertise.

The Online Services for Business replaced the Business Portal and you can use it to create payment plans, lodge a BAS, obtain copies of income tax returns and view your communication history with the ATO.