Charities are becoming more highly regulated worldwide and yet they are subject to
diverse, country-specific, financial reporting standards. New Zealand is a
jurisdiction that has treated all sectors alike in its approach to the financial
regulation of charities, while the UK has, for some time, separated the regulation
of charities from other entities. This article provides a comparison of the
histories of the evolution of regulation for charity reporting in the UK and New
Zealand. The current process of international harmonization in both jurisdictions is
premised on the principle that accounting conceptual frameworks should not be
jurisdiction-specific, but charities have proved to be an exception. We suggest in
this study that this exception is attributed to different drivers resulting in
regulatory distinctions in two otherwise similar jurisdictions. Without persisting
in the maintenance of sector-neutrality, the inevitable divergence increases the
load on preparers, attesters, and users and may lead to lower levels of
accountability and transparency.
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