Comparative analysis between the business general accounting plan and the general accounting plan for non-profit organizations

Abstract

When we think of non-profit organizations what most people imagine is Greenpeace volunteers trying to save whales or UNICEF doctors helping to fight poverty saving the lives of children in Africa, but what does not usually come to our mind is that these organizations are businesses like any other (with oppsite goals) and, like any other company, need to be accounted in order to keep track of their bills and be aware of the distribution of their funds to avoid some known cases of fraud and scams. But, as they are not entities that maximize profits, they require special accounting laws that we are going to study throughout this dissertation. The aim of this study is to compare the key differences between the 2007 General Accounting Business Plan and the General Accounting Plan1 (PGC —as from the Spanish “Plan General Contable”— henceforth) for non-profit organizations published in BOE in 2013. Thus, we will be able to see how accounting has evolved for non-profit organizations from the adaptation they were had of the Royal Decree of 1998 with reference to the old business PGC 1990 to current regulations adapting the PGC to nonprofit entities of 2011. This work begins with an introduction to non-profit entities in which we will differentiate between foundations and associations, speaking later about its legislation focusing on the accounting field. Furthermore, we refer to the adaptation of 1998. After this introduction we will see the differences between both plans breaking down the five parts of the PGC. In the first part of it we will see four major changes in the conceptual framework. Then, we will move on to the rules of recognition and measurement in which we will highlight the nine most important aspects. In the next section, we will see the annual accounts, which are three, instead of five; and finally we will refer to the chart of accounts, ending with accounting definitions and relationships that will see the most significant changes between the two adaptations on the one hand, and the analysis of the most relevant accounts between the two plans on the other hand. As we will see at the end of this study, the PGC of non-profit organizations shows more changes than we may think beforehand, with very specific accounts, plus a new assessment criterion and a new definition for assets, we will see the new and more synthetic structure of annual accounts.