Charity organisations' financial affairs to be more transparent

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Large charity organisations' financial affairs are to become more transparent under new accounting requirements announced today by the Government.

Charities with annual expenditure of more than $500,000 will have to get their financial statements reviewed by a qualified accountant, while those with expenditure of over $1 million will have to have their books audited.

"These changes will improve the quality of financial reporting among charities and result in greater confidence that financial statements are reliable," said Commerce Minister Craig Foss.

The new requirements will be imposed through an amendment to the Charities Bill which will be done via the Accounting Infrastructure Reform Bill which the Government plans to introduce later this year.

The Department of Internal Affairs will starting monitoring registered charities' financial reports from 2016 onwards, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew said.

She expected about 2700 charities would be covered by the new requirements but many were already having their financial statements professionally audited.