The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law
Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2001
A publication of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Articles
The State, Laws and Nongovernmental Organizations in Bangladesh
By Mokbul Morshed Ahmad
China's Nongovernmental Organizations: Status, Government Policies, and Prospects for Further Development
By Guangyao Chen
The Czech Government and NGOs in 2001
By Petr Pajas
The Italian Legal System Relating to Not-for-Profit Organizations: A Historical and Evolutionary Overview
By Alceste Santuari
Reviews
The Legal System Between the State and Civil Society
By Jurgen Nautz, Emil Brix, and Gerhard Luf
Reviewed by Thomas Notter
Foundations of Charity
By Charles Mitchell and Susan R. Moody
Reviewed by Karla Simon
Case Notes
Middle East and North Africa:
Egypt
North America:
the United States
Country Reports
Asia Pacific:
Regional | Australia | Cambodia | Indonesia | Japan
Central and Eastern Europe:
Regional | Albania | Lithuania
Latin America and the Caribbean:
Brazil | Chile | Venezuela
Middle East and North Africa:
Yemen
Newly Independent States:
Belarus
North America:
the United States
South Asia:
India
Sub-Saharan Africa:
Botswana| Ghana | South Africa
Western Europe:
France | Germany
Self-Regulation Reports
Northern NGO Guidelines and Codes of Conduct: Conflicting Rights and Responsibilities?
By Julie Gale
Building Trust in NGOs
By Simon Heap
Nigeria: Draft Code of Standard Practice for NGOs
Switzerland: New Accounting Rules for Not-for-Profit Organizations (NPOs)
International Grantmaking
Bar Association Task Force Revisits Private Foundation Rules: Implication for Foreign Grantmaking
By Richard S. Gallagher
Donating to U.S. Charities
By Arthur B.C. Drache, Q.C.
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Self-Regulation Reports
Switzerland: New Accounting Rules for Not-for-Profit Organizations (NPOs)
The Swiss Foundation for Accounting and Reporting Recommendations (Fachkommission fuer Emfehlungen zur Rechnungslegung or FER in German) has been developing recommendations for accounting standards for NPOs in Switzerland since 1997. In recent months the FER has posted the proposed standards online (in both French and German), proposed topics for discussion, and held public hearings in Geneva and Lucerne. The proposal on NPOs can be accessed at www.fer.ch, and the site also includes information (although not the proposed standards themselves) in Italian, Romansch, and English.
The standards on NPOs are the 21st of the standards being promulgated, and thus are called FER 21 in German. A working group to develop FER 21 was established, and it included input from a variety of experts and practitioners. The issues raised include the following:
- how to differentiate between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations with respect to the ways in which the accounting standards should apply – taking into account the fact that NPOs are independent organizations, with public benefit purposes, and that the financing of such organizations comes from gifts and grants (thus the NPOs dealt with by FER 21 do not include most professional associations, etc.);
- how to differentiate between large and small organizations, with the latter not being required to use accrual accounting – the proposed cut-off is 2 million Swiss franks;
- determining the role of trial balances for NPOs.
A full list of the questions for discussion is available in French and German on the website.
ICNL will be following the development of the NPO accounting standards in Switzerland now that that hearing period has ended. The development of special rules of accounting for NPOs is an important part of NPO self-regulation. Once standards are set, NPOs can report their accounts accordingly, and using uniform standards. Such reporting allows donors, both public and private, to look carefully at the books or proposed donees and determine whether they are organizations to which they wish to make gifts or grants.