A new global accounting standard for nonprofits — launching this week in Geneva — could mark one of the most significant shifts in how international NGOs manage and report their finances, potentially saving the sector millions in administrative costs.
The International Nonprofit Accounting Standards, or INPAS, is designed to bring consistency to the world of nonprofit financial reporting. For the first time, nongovernmental organizations across countries will be able to use a single, internationally recognized accounting framework — one that donors and regulators alike can trust.
“It’s a complete mess out there at the moment,” Ian Carruthers, chief executive at the International Non-Profit Reporting Foundation, or INPRF, which is the long-term home for INPAS, told Devex. “[NGOs] are having to keep multiple sets of books. You’ve got different approaches to reporting. You have to have different sets of information assured.”
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About the author
Jesse Chase-Lubitz
Jesse Chase-Lubitz covers climate change and multilateral development banks for Devex. She previously worked at Nature Magazine, where she received a Pulitzer grant for an investigation into land reclamation. She has written for outlets such as Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and The Japan Times, among others. Jesse holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics.
