Governance and performance reporting in Scottish charities

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the governance and performance reporting practices of Scottish charities at a time of unprecedented legislative and regulatory reform. Such reforms include the revision of the SORP governing charity reporting and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act which led to the establishment of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a descriptive examination of the Trustees' Reports (TRs) produced by a sample of Scottish charities; this assessment was facilitated by means of a content analysis of these documents following the introduction of the new regulatory regime. Findings – The findings indicate that the regime change had a significant impact on the provision of performance, governance and accountability-related information in Scottish charities' TRs. Originality/value – The paper provides the first detailed descriptive account of reporting practices across a range of charities in Scotland at a time of unprecedented regulatory change.