SOX News

Governance Landscape of the Not-for-Profit Community Changed Dramatically Since Implementation of SOX: Survey

(Dec 03, 2007)-- The governance landscape of the not-for-profit community has changed dramatically since the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley. Today, 87 percent of not-for-profit organizations have created new governance policies compared with 20 percent in 2003, according to Grant Thornton LLP’s fifth annual National Board Governance Survey for Not-for-Profit Organizations.

Some notable board governance policy changes that organizations have made include:

* 92% of respondents have implemented new accounting policies and procedures, compared to only 59 percent in last year’s survey.
* Almost nine out of 10 (87 percent) respondents have adopted a written investment policy, compared to 63 percent in 2006.
* Only 30 percent of survey respondents have a policy in place requiring the board or one of its committees to review the organization’s Form 990, but this remains an emerging trend.

“Form 990 is the most public financial document available about a not-for-profit organization. Many more interested parties will read a not-for-profit organization’s Form 990 than will ever read its audited financial statements,” says Frank Kurre, national managing partner of the Grant Thornton’s not-for-profit industry practice.

“To ensure an organization’s information is presented completely and correctly, the audit or finance committee should review the Form 990 before it is filed.”

Conflict-of-interest policy

Almost nine out of 10 (89 percent) organizations have a conflict-of-interest policy in place. The percentage of individuals signing the policy is on the rise:

* More than nine out of 10 (94 percent) respondents require board members to sign a conflict-of-interest policy, compared to 89 percent in the 2006 survey.
* More than two-thirds (68 percent) have executive management sign the policy — an increase from 50 percent in 2006.
* Requirements for committee members to sign such a policy are also on the rise: 41 percent this year, compared to 29 percent in 2006.

Whistle-blower policy

Nearly seven out of 10 (68 percent) respondents have a whistle-blower policy in place. “With Form 990 soon requiring organizations to indicate whether they have a whistle-blower policy, the percentage of organizations with a policy should increase in the near future,” Kurre says.

Organizations submit their whistle-blower complaints to the chair of the audit committee (21 percent), legal counsel (19 percent), and executive management (18 percent).

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