The Council of Australian Governments has endorsed a national standard chart of accounts (SCOA) to cut red tape for the not-for profit sector. This needs to be adopted by all jurisdictions by 1 July 2011.

The national SCOA provides a consistent set of accounting categories and terms for the not for profit sector to report financial information to government agencies. This reduces administrative costs for not for profit organisations that receive grants since government agencies must ask for financial information in a consistent way. Government costs are also reduced since consistently defined data from the sector can be compared, increasing accountability.

NSW Government agencies have been using the national SCOA since July 2010.

This Memorandum clarifies the mandatory nature of this requirement for government agencies. Not-for-profits are able to keep their financial records in any way they choose. However, if a not-for-profit organisation chooses to keep its records in the same form as the SCOA, it will be easier for it to report to more than one agency.

The national SCOA is available on the Queensland University of Technology website (https://wiki.qut.edu.au/display/CPNS/National).

Barry O’Farrell
Premier