Ethics and governance: Understanding board governance practices and the relationship to the disclosure practices for Iowa 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits.

摘要

There are large volumes of research on public companies and whether ethics have played a part in their board governance practices and public reporting (Edison, 2006; Jennings, 2006; "Expense Misreporting in Nonprofit Organizations," R. Krishnan, M. H. Yetman, & R. J. Yetman, 2005). However, there has been little research into the ethics and board governance practices of nonprofit organizations. This paper presents research into board governance practices and their relationship to the accuracy of Iowa nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization IRS Form 990 filings. Based on their interview responses, the Iowa nonprofit boards of directors reviewed in this study appeared to have increased their governance activity. However, the results of the analysis of IRS Form 990 as compared to the sampled entities' financial statements reflected filing inaccuracies similar to those identified in the Krishnan et al. (2005) national study of nonprofits. Thus, there appears to be a need for further tightening of governance practices and ethical decisions in Iowa charitable nonprofits.