Spenders or Savers? An Examination of the Reserves of Australian NGOs

Not‐for‐profit (NFP) organisations experience a tension between societal perceptions about maximising mission expenditure on one hand, and their need to accumulate reserves to ensure longer term financial sustainability on the other. While studies have examined the level of reserves in UK and US contexts, there is little Australian research or guidance about what constitutes an appropriate level of NFP reserves. This paper examines the levels and implications of the reserves of 52 Australian NFP non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) over eight years, identifying two groups. Spenders, with less than three months of expenditure in reserve, were more financially vulnerable, had higher levels of debt, yet spent a relatively greater proportion of their revenue on mission‐related activities than savers. Savers, with more than three months’ reserves, demonstrated a greater proportion of revenue from fundraising, proportionately greater equity levels, and higher returns on assets. Providing unique insights into the financial reserves of Australian NGOs, this empirical study contributes to existing NFP literature on reserves, which to date has focused primarily on US and UK contexts. Further, we propose that by developing, monitoring and communicating their reserves’ strategies, NFP boards and managers will be able to improve their organisations’ financial sustainability and manage societal perceptions about reserves.     

Towards a rationale for integrating consumer and citizenship education

Despite the importance of consumer education and citizenship education in contemporary societies, there has been little attempt to bring together the studies of these two fields to understand the developments in which they share an interest. After defining the parameters of consumer education and citizenship education, this paper will begin to develop a rationale for integrating consumer education and citizenship education, striving to identify synergies that could lead to revised consumer education curricula such that people are prepared to be citizens first and consumers second; that is, consumer-citizens.     

Home economics as an integrated,holistic system: revisiting Bubolz and Sontag's 1988 human ecology approach

This article explores how Bubolz and Sontag's seminal work on integration in home economics and human ecology can inform contemporary home economics practice. They argue that the human ecology perspective can be used to view the whole of home economics, and the subprofessions (specializations) within the whole, as diverse yet unified. This article employs a spider plant as a metaphor to illustrate the value of embracing the notion of home economics as an integrated, holistic system.     

Personal Reflections on Ten Years of the IASB

The International Accounting Standard Board's first 10 years were, in many ways, tumultuous. Established initially as a type of accounting ‘think tank’ with a mandate to develop high‐quality accounting standards that could be adopted on a voluntary basis by countries around the world, it soon gained an international constituency that thrust it into the hurly burly of international accounting standard setting. Before it knew it, the Board was faced with not only resolving challenging technical issues but also dealing with the politics and other pressures that accompany attempts to change accounting practices in highly controversial areas. This article is a personal reflection on the Board's journey from its inception in 2001 until 2011, when the last of the initial board appointees, including the author, retired from the Board. The article indentifies and discusses some of the critical events that took place, including the impact of some of the events on the people directly involved.     

Comparative analysis of Canadian,American and Swedish bankruptcy policy: why do governments legislate consumer debt?

Comparative research in consumer bankruptcy law is scarce. After profiling bankruptcy statistics in each country, the paper compares bankruptcy laws in Canada, United States and Sweden across 20 criteria and then analyses the predominate ideology underlying each law: deviant behaviour modification, consumer protection or social safety net. There is obvious tension between ideologies in each country with the punitive, deviant behaviour modification paradigm the most pervasive across all three countries. There is much we can learn from a comparative policy analysis approach, leading to the conscious development of bankruptcy policy from discernible, declared ideologies. Seven areas for future research are proposed.