The Dynamics of Charity Regulation Amidst Declining Public Trust and Confidence

Speaker abstract

Recent charity scandals highlight one reason that jurisdictions across the Western World are increasingly regulating charities.

Some commentators suggest that charities should be lightly regulated, while others believe that lenient charity regulations is the reason some charities fail to discharge accountability adequately.

This paper this presentation is based on, considers the regulatory space within which the Charity Commission of England and Wales (Charity Commission) manages its role as the oldest charity regulator.

The study analyses the regulator's actions and also the reactions of charities to monitoring and enquiry reports. Rather than being cooperative, charities' reaction to monitoring challenges the regulator seeking to maintain legitimacy for its statutory duties.

Similarly, to other regulators internationally, the Charity Commission has a statutory duty to increase public trust and confidence in charities. In these jurisdictions, the responsibility for public trust in charities is therefore transferred to a third party - the regulator.

Yet in England and Wales, as in a number of jurisdictions, public trust and confidence in charities is declining, rather than increasing. 

This seminar also highlights how the Charity Commission could work to rebuild trust and confidence.

Booking

This seminar is free to attend and there is no need to book in advance. Please feel free to bring your friends, colleagues and classmates along.

Seminar bio

Professor Carolyn Cordery is a Professor of Charity Accounting and Accountability at Aston University.

Her research focuses on not for profit organisations' accounting and accountability. She is particularly interested in how these organisations are resourced (by donors/ philanthropists, grants, contacts etc.) and the resource constraints that cause many of these organisations to be financially vulnerable.

Carolyn has undertaken a number of commissioned research projects and has published work in the following;

• Accounting, Auditing, Accountability Journal
• Accounting and Finance
• Accounting History
• Financial Accountability and Management
• Journal of Accounting and Public Policy

He paper Accounting History and Religion: A Review of Studies and a Research Agenda (Accounting History, 20 (4) pp430-463) win the 2015 Robert W. Gibson Manuscript Award.

Her teaching areas include risk management and research methods.

Carolyn is Joint Editor of Accounting History and is an Associate Editor of the British Accounting Review. She is also on the editorial board of Accounting, Auditing, Accountability Journal.

She is a member of the Practitioner Advisory Group of the International Financial Reporting for Non-Profit Organisations project which is a five-year project to develop credible NPO international financial reporting guidance. This builds on her past membership of the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board (from 2011- 2016).