The Impact of Accounting Information and Its Quality on Government Funding to Nonprofit Organizations

We examine how governments use accounting information, specifically administrative ratios, in their decisions regarding the funding of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Using data in the setting of Canada, we find that when funding NPOs for the first time, governments consider NPOs’ sustainability and are more likely to award funds to NPOs with reasonably high administrative ratios, as long as these ratios are below the government-suggested threshold. In subsequent funding decisions, governments tend to ignore administrative ratios and stick with previously funded NPOs to extend subsequent funding(s). We further find that governments react to low-quality accounting ratios by reducing the likelihood and the value of funds awarded, and this reaction is more pronounced at initial funding than at subsequent funding(s). The practical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.