Are you up to speed on the ‘not for profit road’?

1
Are you up to speed on thenot for profit road?
2

• Are you involved with a community organisation?
• One of the key areas of our work is for
  not-for-profit entities. These are essentially
  entities engaged in community-type activities,
  such as churches, charities and schools.

3

• They extend to aged care and residential
  facilities, land protection entities and animal
  welfare groups. Even the organisation that
  controls the block of apartments you live in.
• Before we go on, we use the word entity to
  describe any organisation covered by this
  article, regardless of the legal structure used
  to run that organisation.

4

• You might not know that even though these types
  of entities raise money, educate our kids, and
  look after our families, they can and do have
  responsibilities involving reporting to state and
  federal agencies.
• These reporting rules also apply even if the
  entity is run largely or fully by volunteers. So,
  if you or a family member is an office-bearer in
  one of these entities, there is an obligation on
  the entity to meet its obligations.

5

• Depending on how your entity has been set up, it
  may need to report to one government body, or, as
  we see more these days, multiple state and
  federal authorities.

6

• Here are our top 4 the Australian Taxation
  Office (link), state Consumer Affairs departments
  (link), the Australian Securities and Investments
  Commission (ASIC) (link), and the newest (and
  fairly long-winded sounding) co-ordinator of many
  not-for-profit entities, the Australian
  Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission (ACNC)
  (link).

7

• Reporting may include financial and
  non-financial reporting. You may need to
  prepare financial reports, and have them audited.
  Some entities can have their reports reviewed
  rather than audited.
• To prepare financial reports, you will need to
  keep records that record and explain your
  transactions. Financial records include invoices,
  receipts, cheques and documents that record
  these, including bank statements.

8

• Non-financial reports can relate to fund-raising
  activities, and require documents to be put on
  the public record.
• It is likely your entity will need to hold an
  annual general meeting (AGM), where the reports
  will be presented. There are time limits for
  holding an AGM.

9

• Depending on how your entity has been set up,
  here are 10 documents you may also need
• Income Tax Return
• Annual Information Statement
• Investment strategy
• Business Activity Statements

10

• Annual GST Return
• Annual Return
• Annual Statement
• Personal insolvency declarations
• Submission of financial statements to annual
  general meeting
• Form 1

11

• If you have to lodge documents with government
  agencies, note there are time limits to lodge.
  The time to lodge is usually a fixed number of
  days after the end of the year. There are also
  lodgement fees applicable to lodging some
  documents.

12

• A couple of final notes
• Even though your organisation may not have a
  legal requirement for an audit, office bearers
  have a responsibility to their organisation to
  ensure it complies with the law and follows best
  practice. This can include having a financial
  audit conducted by a qualified, independent
  auditor every year.

13

• And remember, your entity would probably have
  been set up with some form of governing rules.
  These outline how your organisation is run, how
  office bearers are elected and removed, and
  financial reporting requirements.
• Hopefully, you still have these rules, or someone
  will know who has them or where they are.

14

• It might be worthwhile storing these types of
  documents, and other historical documents such as
  registrations and licensing numbers, on-line
  rather than hoping the paper copy will be handed
  to whoever needs it.

15

• And some final advice if we may
• If you are involved with an organisation, dont
  assume everything is in hand, taken care of or
  that someone else has done it.
• Get advice on your entitys structure and legal
  requirements.
• Remember you have responsibilities.

16

• http//gnsgroup.com.au/