ABSTRACT
This chapter contributes to the issue of how do you design and teach accounting and financial management to students working in charitable nonprofit organisations? My contribution derives, in part, from my own educational development and teaching experiences. That experience began in 1990 when I registered for a doctorate researching charity auditing and reporting. I subsequently designed and taught the first postgraduate course in Charity Accounting in the UK. Further course developments have included a professional post qualification Certificate for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in Charity Accounting as well as modules for non-accountants at Postgraduate level introducing charity finance to students on courses including Fund Raising; Grant Making, Philanthropy and Social Investment; Management; NGO Management; and Arts Management. These educational developments are supported by research and explored within a theory and policy framework that demonstrates there are distinctive differences in charity accounting and nonprofit finance. In this chapter the terms nonprofits and charities are used interchangeably. There is an extensive historic literature on definition, terminology, and contention which is outside the scope of this chapter (Powell 1987; Young 1993; Stone and Crittenden 1993; Salamon and Anheier 1994). The terms are used interchangeably here because there is distinct law, tax, and accounting and finance regulations relating to registered charities in the UK as opposed to other nonprofits.
