Cultural accountability in the annual report: The case of First Nations entities in Australia

Abstract

Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) are vital to the cultural and social fabric of the communities they represent. Yet while such entities are obligated to publish annual financial and non-financial information, little is known about the role of these reports in terms of delivering accountability to culturally diverse stakeholders. This benchmark study is among the first to use grounded accountability theory to compare the results from quantitative content and qualitative thematic analysis of annual reporting across 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander NFPs. Our analysis reveals the communication of ‘cultural accountability’ that sets these entities apart from other NFPs. Implications of these findings for accountability practices in non-Anglo-Saxon cultural contexts are discussed.