Bird and Morgan-Jones (1981) conduct a survey of financial reporting by charity organisations in the
United Kingdom (U.K.). They found that amongst a sample of 85 NGOs, accounting practices varied
widely. Ashford (1991) reviewed the accounts of 56 NGOs and found similar results to Bird and Morgan-
Jones (1981). There was a wide variety of accounting practices being employed by charitable
organisations 10 years later in the U.K.Goddard and Assad (2006) investigated the phenomena of
accounting by NGOs in Tanzania. They report that accounting reports provided by NGOs played the role
of navigating organisational legitimacy (in many cases to donors) and that, these reports played minimal
role in internal decision-making. Ebrahim (2003) noted the same and stated that “upward” or “external”
accountability to donors are well in place while “internal” or downward” mechanisms are
underdeveloped. A range of other studies also provides evidence on financial reporting practices of
NGOs (see for example Bekkers, 2002, Harper and Harper, 1988, Alvey, 1995, Cordery and Bakerville-
Morley, 2005). These studies and others recommend that changes are needed in order to improve the
financial reporting practices of NGOs. Various studies look at the interplay between donor agencies and
their role in the financial reporting practices of NGOs. Gordon and Khumawala (1999) provide evidence
that donors to NGOs do use financial reports in making donation decisions.