Accounting for volunteers: Enhancing organizational accountability and legitimacy

Volunteers are mission-critical resources and the on-going ability of many nonprofit organizations to serve their constituencies is dependent on such contributed services. Utilizing an on-line questionnaire administered to co-ordinators of volunteers, the study investigates perceptions and practices in the Australian nonprofit sector in the reporting of volunteer contributions of services. We find (N = 166) that although organizations place high value on volunteer contributions, the benefits and impact are rarely reported. The majority of respondents consider that a statement of volunteer contributions should be included alongside financial statements to give a more complete representation of organizational performance. This would enhance the accountability and legitimacy of the organization. No regulatory requirement to report and a lack of resources are cited as the predominate reasons for current non-disclosure. The findings support the need for a best practice model for recording and reporting volunteer contributions to recognize the significance of the resource.