Not-for-Profit Organisations

ACCA P2考试：Not-for-Profit Organisations

Primary Objectives

Most of these types of organisations do not have as their primary objective the making of profits. In many cases, these organisations are providing a service for the community as a whole. National governments have amongst their many objectives to provide health, education and policing to all members of the community; they do not seek to make a profit out of giving these services.

Other organisations do not have profit as their primary objective (e.g. charities and many museums); they seek to provide a service to various groups within the local and international communities.

Value for Money

Many not-for-profit organisations and public sector entities follow a value for money (VFM) approach to how they perform their services.

Accounting

Most of these types of organisation enter into accounting transactions leading to the requirement for the transactions to be recorded by one means or another. Accruals accounting is used by the vast majority of these organisations, however, cash-based accounting is still used in some public sector institutions.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has published International Public Sector Accounting Standards prescribing the accounting treatment to be followed by public sector bodies. These standards are derived from IFRSs, with adaptations being made to put them in a public sector context, when appropriate. The preface to these standards state that the conceptual framework of the IASB is still relevant in public sector accounting.

Charitable organisations cannot do as they please with their funds; they must produce accounting records showing the stewardship of the funds that have been entrusted to them. They are required to follow a form of best practice for their accounting transactions.