That is one of the messages to emerge from a seminar hosted by CIPFA today and attended by more than 40 finance leaders and standard setters from around the world, including Canada, Denmark, Zimbabwe and Japan.

NPOs increasingly work across both national borders and those between sectors and thus are faced with multiple international regulatory and legislative demands.

Ian Carruthers, CIPFA’s standards chair, said the seminar would help delegates gain a better understanding of the financial reporting practices of NPOs.

“We know that the majority of NPOs would welcome some form of international reporting standards but there is no consensus yet on what that should look like,” he said.

“This issue will no doubt benefit from further research and analysis but the seminar was an important step in helping to inform the debate and identify potential ways forward.”

Citing a survey by the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB), CIPFA noted that 72% of NPOs indicated that they thought it would be useful to have international standards for financial reporting.