Financial Reporting in European NPOs: Is Now the Time for a Common Framework?

The role of the nonprofit sector in the European Community is widely recognized by the Commission and European Parliament, which look to these organizations to promote the development and integration of EU citizens in activities relevant to the societies of member states. Recognizing the importance of these enterprises, European central bodies seek to promote growth through funding programs for training and professionalization and through communications that define the roles and the operations of these entities. This social economy or Third Sector is very heterogeneous, not only in the types of organizations and operations, but also in the types of relationships with civil society and especially in reporting and accounting practices (Jerger and Lapsley, 1998). The European Commission and Parliament have largely avoided issuing specific rules for financial reporting applicable to all players in the social economy. (Not-for-profit enterprises engaged in business, mainly cooperatives and social cooperatives, are covered in an indirect way by the Community directive in accounting.) A large area of doubt results, particularly concerning associations and foundations, which makes it difficult to gauge the results of these actors' contributions to the social economy. The gray area, paradoxically, covers just those types of entities that have become more pervasive within civil society and that are especially well positioned to promote integration among EU citizens. The enlargement of the Community to twenty-five nations, connected with the free movement of people and activities, raises to extraordinary importance the need for a framework for nonprofits to report accounting information and a model annual budget that are common to all European states. Developing a common framework requires an analysis of national accounting models, including the role of cultural factors (Doupnika and Riccio 2006). It is therefore vital to develop cultural and legislative analyses for those countries that have imposed accounting requirements on players in the Third Sector. Through these analyses, we may derive a path for the creation of a single accounting model. This article seeks to highlight possible areas of overlap in accounting models, through an analysis of accounting regulations applicable to not-for-profit organizations in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy.Financial reporting; common framework; funding programs; communications

La cooperazione e lo sviluppo dei sistemi turistici locali: percorsi e ritorni in quarant'anni di sviluppo del sistema turistico riminese

La cooperazione tra imprese turistiche ha svolto in alcuni territori un ruolo fondamentale nello sviluppo di sistemi turistici locali “ante litteram”. La riflessione vuole indagare il ruolo della cooperazione tra imprese (non solo in forma di società cooperative propriamente dette, ma anche di forme associative e consortili e di coordinamento imprenditoriale formalizzato) in uno dei sistemi maggiormente sviluppati (o “maturi che dir si voglia) del nostro paese ossia il territorio riminese. Attraverso l’osservazione del ruolo delle cooperative nelle diverse fasi del mezzo secolo dello sviluppo riminese, si indaga il ruolo svolto dalle forme aggregative nelle diverse fasi dello sviluppo del sistema turistico: l’infrastrutturazione di base, lo sviluppo, la differenziazione, la riqualificazione. La cooperazione tra imprese che in un primo momento costituisce lo strumento in cui la microimpresa prende in carico in proprio lo sviluppo e l’infrastrutturazione del territorio, diviene poi prima vincolo alla diversificazione ed allo sviluppo del prodotto e poi strumento di diversificazione e nuovamente di promozione di nuovi segmenti turistici, per operare infine come elemento di intervento sulle crisi aziendali. L’analisi delle storie delle cooperative tra esercenti di impianti balneari, tra albergatori, tra operatori di particolari micro territori, mostrano le potenzialità ed i limiti dei sistemi di aggregazione “orizzontali” tra imprese e della loro collaborazione con i soggetti incaricati della promozione turistica del territorio

Financial Reporting in European NPOs: is now time for a common framework

Not for Profit Organizations (NPOs) are the subject in the middle of a relevant debate by scholars, politicians and public opinion and some efforts were done to measure economic dimensions of “third sector” by Research centres and international institutions while there is a remarkable lack of homogeneity concerning NPOs’ accounting regulation in the European Union. Each country has its own accounting regulatory system, strongly depending by civil and tax laws; this reduces both NPO’s disclosure and prevents scholars to comprehend the real state of social economy system at European level and their financial performance. Moreover it makes NPOs’ chance to operate in a foreign country into the enlarged EU very difficult and make difficult an homogeneity in NPOs treatment at European level. A European agenda to support the accountability development in the third sector should define a minimum common framework for institutional and governance features, financial accounting and social accountability for different kinds of NPO, beginning starting from the different national regulations. In particular an hypothesys of “European NPOss’ framework” for financial reporting (a first step to a better accountability) hasve to consider different regulations in order to: a) legal entities form in which NPOs arehave constituted instituted in EU countries end and their regulations (specific for NPOs or general for commercial entities); b) accounting and auditing obligations (keep accounting records, prepare annual accounts, provide financial reporting) and audit them; c) mandatory annual report provided by the NPOs (mission statement, asset and liability statement, statement of financial activities, explanatory notes, trustees report) d) disclosure of accounts disclosure (make the accounts available to the public on request or deposit it in a public register); e) accounting principles for NPOs (cash or accrual basis, light regulation for smaller entities, Ifrs implementation); f) a model for NPOs financial performance evaluation based on financial statement (significant ratio in accounting aggregates; To define a common framework we start from a comparationmatching between Spanish, Italian, and English regulations (law and practice) applied to NPOs to highlight similarities and differences. The paper is the first step of a wider research whose final goal is a “meeting path” to a common accounting framework for non profit organizations in European Union

Towards a New Model of Control in Outsourcing and Accreditation of Public Service Providing Efficiency and Accountability

“Public accreditation certification” of private institutions and differentiation of institutional forms of public bodies define a convergence between public and private non profit provider of social services in Italy In Italy the system of public provision of social health and educational services historically developed as an expression of the central and local government. While the private institutions that provide the same services was not included in the public system. They maintained a wide autonomy in organizing services, but they paid the autonomy with the absence of a strong financial support. In the last thirty years , the process of concessions before, and then of public-private partnership, and now, the general accreditation for private institutions and the increasing strategic and financial autonomy for the public institutions is leading to a different frame of reference. Private bodies if they want to work in partnership with the public institutions and receive public funds have to obtain accreditation so they reduce their differentiation and autonomy. Instead the public, in search of new opportunities and new funding, tend to adopt private law models. This path suggest us to affirm a new concept of "public service" objective and not subjective, and to seek common forms of regulation. We argue that should be requested more transparency and social control to the private operators who managed public services with public funding. While to the public bodies should be requested a greater responsibility and competitiveness with private entities that have the same standard of service. The “accreditation revolution” requires new governance and accountability tools

Improving NPO'S accountability in the enlarged EU: towards a common framework for financial reporting in European NPOS

Not for Profit Organizations (NPOs) are the subject in the middle of a relevant debate by scholars, politicians and public opinion. The European Commission issued ten years ago a Communication regarding the promotion of associations’ and foundations’ role, the problems and the challenges they have to face to improve their actions and to be able to better operate in a European context. Some efforts were done to measure economic dimensions of “third sector” by Research centres and international institutions while there is a remarkable lack of homogeneity concerning NPOs’ accounting regulation in the European Union. Each country has its own accounting regulatory system, strongly depending by civil and tax laws; this reduces both NPO’s disclosure and prevents scholars to comprehend the real state of social economy system at European level and their financial performance. Moreover it makes NPOs’ chance to operate in a foreign country into the enlarged EU very difficult and make difficult an homogeneity in NPOs treatment at European level. A European agenda to support the accountability development in the third sector should define a minimum common framework for institutional and governance features, financial accounting and social accountability for different kinds of NPO, beginning starting from the different national regulations. In particular an hypothesys of “European NPOss’ framework” for financial reporting (a first step to a better accountability) hasve to consider different regulations in order to: a) legal entities form in which NPOs arehave constituted instituted in EU countries end and their regulations (specific for NPOs or general for commercial entities); b) accounting and auditing obligations (keep accounting records, prepare annual accounts, provide financial reporting) and audit them; c) mandatory annual report provided by the NPOs (mission statement, asset and liability statement, statement of financial activities, explanatory notes, trustees report) d) disclosure of accounts disclosure (make the accounts available to the public on request or deposit it in a public register); e) accounting principles for NPOs (cash or accrual basis, light regulation for smaller entities, Ifrs implementation); f) a model for NPOs financial performance evaluation based on financial statement (significant ratio in accounting aggregates; To define a common framework we start from a comparationmatching between Spanish, Italian, and English regulations (law and practice) applied to NPOs to highlight similarities and differences. The paper is the first step of a wider research whose final goal is a “meeting path” to a common accounting framework for non profit organizations in European Union

A construção e reconstrução de capital social em empresas cooperativas sociais de multi-staheholders: uma abordagem dinâmica do sistema

Theories on social capital and on social entrepreneurship have mainly highlighted the attitude of social capital to generate enterprises and to foster good relations between third sector organizations and the public sector. This paper considers the social capital in a specific third sector enterprise; here, multi-stakeholder social cooperatives are seen, at the same time, as social capital results, creators and incubators. In the particular enterprises that identify themselves as community social enterprises, social capital, both as organizational and relational capital, is fundamental: SCEs arise from but also produce and disseminate social capital. This paper aims to improve the building of relational social capital and the refining of helpful relations drawn from other arenas, where they were created and from where they are sometimes transferred to other realities, where their role is carried on further (often working in non-profit, horizontally and vertically arranged groups, where they share resources and relations). To represent this perspective, we use a qualitative system dynamic approach in which social capital is measured using proxies. Cooperation of volunteers, customers, community leaders and third sector local organizations is fundamental to establish trust relations between public local authorities and cooperatives. These relations help the latter to maintain long-term contracts with local authorities as providers of social services and enable them to add innovation to their services, by developing experiences and management models and maintaining an interchange with civil servants regarding these matters. The long-term relations and the organizational relations linking SCEs and public organizations help to create and to renovate social capital. Thus, multi-stakeholder cooperatives originated via social capital developed in third sector organizations produce new social capital within the cooperatives themselves and between different cooperatives (entrepreneurial components of the third sector) and the public sector. In their entrepreneurial life, cooperatives have to contrast the "working drift," as a result of which only workers remain as members of the cooperative, while other stakeholders leave the organization. Those who are not workers in the cooperative are (stake)holders with "weak ties," who are nevertheless fundamental in making a worker's cooperative an authentic social multi-stakeholders cooperative. To maintain multi-stakeholder governance and the relations with third sector and civil society, social cooperatives have to reinforce participation and dialogue with civil society through ongoing efforts to include people that provide social proposals. We try to represent these processes in a system dynamic model applied to local cooperatives, measuring the social capital created by the social cooperative through proxies, such as number of volunteers and strong cooperation with public institutions. Using a reverse-engineering approach, we can individuate the determinants of the creation of social capital and thereby give support to governance that creates social capital.Teorías sobre el capital social y el emprendedurismo social ponen de relieve la iniciativa del capital social en generar y nutrir buenas relaciones entre el sector terciario y el sector público. En este trabajo se considera el capital social como un activo del sector terciario; en él, las cooperativas sociales de multistakeholders son vistas como resultado del capital social y, a la vez, como sus creadoras y difusoras. Para representar esta dinámica, se emplea un enfoque sistémico desde el punto de vista cualitativo asociado al análisis de las redes sociales como herramientas para la reconstrucción y modelado de procesos en las empresas sociales de la comunidad y de los sistemas de negocios relacionados. La colaboración de voluntarios, clientes, líderes de la comunidad y los negocios locales del sector terciario son fundamentales para establecer la confianza en las relaciones entre las autoridades públicas locales y las cooperativas. Dichas relaciones ayudan a las cooperativas a mantener contratos a largo plazo con las autoridades locales como proveedoras de servicios sociales y les permite agregar innovación a sus servicios, desarrollando experiencias, administrando modelos y manteniendo un intercambio con los servidores públicos. En el largo plazo esas relaciones unen a las empresas cooperativas sociales entre sí y al sector público, lo que ayuda a crear y renovar el capital social. En su actividad, las cooperativas conviven con trabajadores que permanecen como miembros de la cooperativa, mientras que otros stakeholders dejan la organización. Aun éstos que mantienen un vínculo más débil son fundamentales para convertir una cooperativa de trabajadores en una auténtica cooperativa social de multistakeholders. Para mantener la gestión de los multistakeholders y las relaciones con el sector terciario y la sociedad civil, las cooperativas sociales tienen que estimular y reforzar la participación y el diálogo con la comunidad por medio de un esfuerzo continuo de inclusión social. Con el uso de un enfoque de ingeniería inversa, se puede considerar determinante la creación del capital social y, por consiguiente, apoyar la administración que lo genera.Teorias sobre o capital social e o empreendedorismo social têm dado destaque à iniciativa do capital social em gerar e nutrir boas relações entre o Terceiro Setor e o Setor Público. Neste trabalho, considera-se o capital social como um ativo do Terceiro Setor; as cooperativas sociais de multi-stakeholders são vistas como fruto do capital social e, ao mesmo tempo, suas criadoras e propagadoras. Para representar essa dinâmica, emprega-se a abordagem sistêmica do ponto de vista qualitativo, associada à análise das redes sociais como ferramentas para reconstrução e modelagem de processos dentro das empresas sociais da comunidade e dos sistemas de negócios conectados. A cooperação entre voluntários, clientes, líderes da comunidade e os empreendimentos locais do Terceiro Setor é fundamental para o estabelecimento da confiança nas relações entre as autoridades públicas locais e as cooperativas. Essas relações ajudam as cooperativas a manter contratos de longo prazo com as autoridades locais, como fornecedoras de serviços sociais, e possibilitam-lhes trazer inovação aos seus serviços, desenvolvendo experiências, administrando modelos e mantendo um intercâmbio com os servidores públicos. No longo prazo, essas relações unem as empresas cooperativas sociais entre si e ao setor público, ajudando a criar e renovar o capital social. Na sua atividade, as cooperativas acabam convivendo com trabalhadores que permanecem como membros da cooperativa, enquanto outros stakeholders deixam a organização. Mesmo esses que mantem um vínculo mais fraco são fundamentais para fazer de uma cooperativa de traba-lhadores uma autêntica cooperativa social de multi-stakeholders. Para manter a gestão dos multi-stakeholders e as relações com o Terceiro Setor e a sociedade civil, as cooperativas sociais têm que incentivar e fortalecer a participação e o diálogo com a comunidade por meio de um contínuo esforço de inclusão das pessoas. Usando uma abordagem de engenharia reversa, pode-se considerar determinante a criação de capital social e, desse modo, dar apoio à administração que o gera

Analysing NGOS' Accounting and Cultural Praxis : A first Cross-National Reading of Medecins Sans Frontieres's Reporting

This paper, referring to the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières , analyses its system of reporting by comparing direct reports produced by the international headquarters with some reports of the national branches in Europe. This work tries to assess the readability from an international and transnational perspective. It aims to see if the report is readable by all donors and highlights the transnational connections construed between the individual national offices. The paper tries to ver i fy whether the social values of single European nations are ref lected in the national repor ts of MSF and produce some differences in the ways the annual reports are written and presented

An analysis of social enterprises governance models through a comparative study of the legislation of eleven countries.

Social Enterprise is increasingly becoming a pressing area of study in European faculties, and likewise, a broad range of literature has been produced on the various, relating arguments. One of the aspects least focused upon, however, regards the issue of governance; which is a fundamental aspect when defining a type of governing system that could lead to an improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of social enterprises. The need to combine both social and economic aims in the decision making process also emphasizes the importance of stakeholder participation. Furthermore, seeing as how social enterprises work in an environment of high public involvement, whether it be with public entities or with the community as a whole, issues such as business administration and activity supervision, come to be of high importance. The production of social utility goods and/or services is directed toward a plurality of local actors, which are to be furthermore guaranteed a high level of accountability and transparency. This paper explores governance through an in-depth analysis and comparison of the legislation of eleven countries on social enterprise or social cooperatives (Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and United Kingdom)

Gli Indicatori dell'Assistenza Domiciliare Integrata

Il contributo illustra un sistema per la valutazione dell'assistenza domiciliare integrata composto da indicatori di copertura della popolazione, di equità di accesso, di fattori produttivi impiegati in un sistema di assistenza domiciliare. Con riferimento all'episodio di cura si illustrano invece indicatori di processo, di risultato generico e specifico per i gruppi di patologie. Si conclude illustrando gli indicatori di soddisfazione dell'assistito e della famiglia con lo strumento dei PROMs e PREMS e ipotizzando un modello di rappresentazione e valutazione dell'episodio di cur