Summary – The Assistant Treasurer has announced that NFP reforms will be slowed to allow organisations in the sector to transition to the new framework.

The Assistant Treasurer, David Bradbury MP, has announced that the Government will slow down or “stage” the introduction of regulatory reform for the charities and Not-For-Profit sector to allow organisations to transition to the new regulatory framework.

The Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission (ACNC) will still commence operations from 1 October 2012.

However, the governance standards and financial reporting framework will not now commence until 1 July 2013, meaning that the first full financial reports for medium and large registered entities will now begin to fall due after 1 July 2014.

He has confirmed that the ACNC will initially only regulate charities.

Also, the draft ACNC legislation has been referred to the House of Representatives standing committee on economics for review.

This is a welcome relief for a large number of charities and Not-For-Profit organisations who have been faced with significant challenges in trying to respond to the speed of Not-For-Profit reform proposals, especially when the details of the reforms have not been finalised.

Interestingly, there was nothing in the Assistant Treasurer’s statement indicating a slow down on the “charity” definition, the introduction of the “in Australia” legislation or the unrelated business income tax.  So, there are still many challenges to be faced, but this slow down is welcome.