ABSTRACT
We need to understand more about the motivations of trustees. There is now an abundance of ‘how to do it’ literature and the NCVO and Charity Commission publications in this area provide sound advice. So why is it that trustees, many top business people, get it wrong? Charity trustees and management committee members will increasingly find themselves having to disclose more and more information about themselves personally and their decision making. Organizations will face calls for accountability from a variety of stakeholders including, increasingly, service users. We believe there will be a greater use of social accounting and other measures that go beyond the financial audit. Charities will also focus more on ethical investments. All this will mean that trustees will have to think strategically as well as focusing on the internal working of the organization. The finance director in many charities could have a key role in being the ‘risk assessment and compliance officer’. All this will have a cost that will mean administrative cost ratios will rise.
