One of Australia's largest providers of community services, UnitingCare Australia, has claimed the charities regulator has increased both reporting obligations and costs to the not-for-profit sector.
UnitingCare made the claims in a report titled Increasing our impact: reducing red tape for the not-for-profit sector.
A section of the report focused on the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission’s (ACNC) Annual Information Statement (AIS), a 2013 reporting requirement reportedly designed to help cut red tape to the sector.
The UnitingCare report said groups had to redirect resources to complete the AIS report, which contained information many groups had already provided to the government.
“Our analysis of the 2013 AIS is that the majority of the information it requests has already been provided to government by the majority of organisations registered with the ACNC,” the report said.
“The cost to the sector of this duplication of effort is significant and critically many organisations can only meet the requirement by taking resources away from frontline service delivery.”
The report calculated that the AIS would take the 57,500 ACNC registered organisations more than 43,000 hours to complete, at a cost equal to hiring 25 full-time employees for an entire year.
“The AIS is designed to help reduce the need for [not-for-profit] organisations to report to various different government departments and agencies over time, however at the moment the AIS is an additional requirement,” the report said.
“A significant opportunity for the ACNC to reduce red tape from the beginning of its operations has been missed and the cost of doing so has fallen to the sector.”
Director of Communications for the ACNC Jan Sharrock said the regulator had made no claims it would abolish red tape immediately, and would instead take a long-term approach.
“The ACNC has always stated that reducing red tape would require a long-term plan and sustained and respectful negotiation across the sector and government,” Ms Sharrock said.
“Over time, charities will notice a tangible reduction in the time and effort they spend reporting. The introduction of the AIS is the first step in that process,” she said.
The Federal Coalition has said it will abolish the ACNC and replace it with a new, small centre for excellence if it wins office on September 7.
