CA ANZ and CPA Australia have lodged a joint submission supporting the proposals in Treasury’s consultation paper Increasing harmonised financial reporting thresholds for ACNC registered charities. The proposals, which are based on one recommendation of the 2018 ACNC legislative review, recommend an uplift of the small threshold to $500,00 (double the existing $250,000) and the large to $3million (triple the existing $1million).

However, the submission recognises that this change, while important and necessary, is only one step towards addressing the wider regulatory issues that NFPs face due to inconsistent reporting and assurance requirements across both entity types and jurisdictions. It calls for the Council on Federal Financial Relations to develop a regulatory roadmap that will build on the harmonisation and red tape reduction work already completed by the ACNC. Such a roadmap should involve regulators engaging with the AASB’s NFP reporting reform project that is working to develop consistent and transparent financial reporting requirements that meet user needs without imposing an unrealistic and costly burden on preparers in the sector.