Accountability and giving accounts: Informal reporting practices in a religious corporation

Abstract

Purpose

Focusing on Sanitarium, a commercial‐charity operating as a department of a church, the paper aims to use Mashaw's taxonomy to examine this organisation's informal reporting in the context of accountability.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a case study approach and draws on data gathered from primary and secondary archival sources, interviews with key informants, and reports in the public media.

Findings

The paper examines Sanitarium, a hybrid organisation that has made informal account giving its primary means of reporting to constituents and the general public. It reveals that while the informal reporting blurs the boundaries of reporting regimes, the informal account always discloses something more, has the spirit of accountability and provides insight into the organisation that otherwise would not be accessible. The paper shows the usefulness of applying Mashaw's framework to examine the accountability practices of organisations in the third sector.

Originality/value

The paper extends understanding into the nature of accountability by highlighting the contribution of informal account giving, the role of stakeholder perceptions in determining what counts as accountability, and the benefits of using a framework that can be applied to all commercial organisations, including faith organisations. The paper focuses on an area of study that has been acknowledged as under‐researched and contributes to the knowledge of accountability in religious organisations.

Citation

Hardy, L. and Ballis, H. (2013), "Accountability and giving accounts: Informal reporting practices in a religious corporation", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 539-566. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513571311327453