Rechnungslegung spendensammelnder Organisationen in Deutschland (English shop)

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In Germany there are institutions that finance their activities wholly or partly through the collection of donations. Such institutions are generally referred to as donation-collecting organisations. Examples of German donation organisations include SOS-Kinderdörfer, UNICEF, Welthungerhilfe and Kindernothilfe.

One aim of this study is to develop requirements for the financial reporting information of donation-collecting organisations from the donors’ perspective. In order to develop such requirements, it is necessary to determine the information needs of donors in detail. Given that the literature has so far contained hardly any contributions on the information needs of donors, this study first addresses this question.

Furthermore, this study clarifies the extent to which financial reporting information that has to be provided on the basis of the statutory provisions applicable to German donation organisations satisfies the developed requirements for the financial reporting information of donation-collecting organisations from the donors’ perspective.

Donation-collecting organisations are as a rule not legally obliged to apply the financial reporting provisions of commercial law. Nevertheless, a large number of donation-collecting organisations apply these voluntarily for the organisation as a whole. However, the financial reporting provisions of commercial law were developed for profit-oriented enterprises. Not least for this reason, the application of commercial law provisions to the financial reporting of donation-collecting organisations gives rise to accounting questions for which no individual provisions exist in the German Commercial Code (HGB). The literature, too, has so far hardly addressed these questions. Examples include, in particular, the accounting treatment of donations, of other types of income in the non-commercial sphere, and of obligations towards cooperation partners and beneficiaries. These and further questions are examined in this study.

Donation-collecting organisations in Germany are as a rule not obliged to publish financial reporting information. Against this background, this study determines the extent to which German donation organisations publish financial reporting information voluntarily.