All non-profit organisations, regardless of size, can benefit from publishing reviews of their performance in stakeholder reports, according to AccountAbility.

The London-based standards developer and think tank has just issued its own report to stakeholders for 2004-2005 following extensive consultation with its stakeholders on how they think the organisation is performing.

The report – known as The AccountAbility Accounts – assesses whether the organisation has delivered against its stated strategic and operational objectives.

For the first time, AccountAbility has built an element of third party assurance into its reporting process in the form of a stakeholder panel. The panel reviewed the report in line with the principles of materiality, completeness and responsiveness – the basis of Accountability’s AA1000 assurance standard - to decide whether it:

AccountAbility aims to have its annual report fully audited by external practitioners by 2007.

‘Non-profit organisations are often quick to demand that corporations be accountable to their stakeholders, yet frequently fail to demonstrate how they walk their own talk. Sometimes the excuse is that NGOs are too small and short on resources to report.

‘As a small non-profit of only 40 people, we hope that our example proves size is not an issue when it comes to stakeholder reporting,’ said AccountAbility MD Maria Sillanpaa.

According to AccountAbility, civil society organisations have much to gain from stakeholder reporting, including the opportunity to:

The AccountAbility Accounts can be viewed at [1] www.accountability.org.uk/accounts

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AccountAbility is a London-based non-profit organisation that works to make companies, civil society and other organisations accountable for their actions.

For further information contact:

Mark McKenzie, Communications Manager at AccountAbility
+ 44 (0) 207 549 0400
[2] mark@accountability.org.uk