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REGULATING THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS? *
Author(s) -
Williams David J.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
accounting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.645
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-629X
pISSN - 0810-5391
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-629x.1984.tb00047.x
Subject(s) - accountability , business , law and economics , transaction cost , database transaction , accounting , public relations , economics , public economics , political science , finance , law , computer science , programming language
The paper investigates the reasons for regulating the accounting, management and performance of charitable organisations. It is argued that there exists a priori reasons to expect the public would demand regulation of this industry. This is primarily so that the transaction costs of bilateral bargaining between the public and charities are minimized, and to improve the security of possible donors against the proclivity of some agents to make false and misleading statements. However, existing regulations may be counterproductive by giving the public the impression that regulation achieves these aims when in fact it has not. Other possible inconsistencies in the way regulations have been applied are identified.