Mandatory Public Benefit Reporting as a Basis for Charity Accountability: Findings from England and Wales

Charitable status is inherently linked in many jurisdictions with the requirement that an entity must be established for public benefit. But, until recently the public benefit principle had relatively little impact on the operations of most established charities. However, in England and Wales, reforms linked to the «Charities Act 2006» led to a new requirement for public benefit reporting in the trustees’ annual report (TAR) of every registered charity. This new narrative reporting requirement had the potential to affect the understanding of accountability by charities. The paper investigates the impact of that requirement through a study of over 1,400 sets of charity reports and accounts and subsequent qualitative work with trustees and others involved in preparing TARs.