All ACNC staff must comply with the Australian Public Service (APS) Values and Code of Conduct. The APS Values and Code of Conduct include requirements for ACNC staff to act impartially, behave with integrity and honesty, and act with due care and diligence in the course of their employment.

Our staff must comply with the ACNC's values. They guide the way we work, the way we make decisions and how we interact with each other and the wider community.

We are committed to providing you with prompt, professional and quality services at all times. This includes:

  • treating you with respect and courtesy in our dealings with you
  • making consistent decisions, and advising you of our decisions in a timely manner
  • providing you with accurate information that is accessible and easy to understand
  • being openly accountable for our actions, and monitoring and improving our performance in the services we provide you.

If you give us information, we will collect, store and use that information in accordance with the law. We will respect your rights to privacy and confidentiality.

We often deal with complex laws and situations and we aim to communicate these to you in plain language. We will share our decisions about new matters, and the reasons for our decisions, to build your knowledge.

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure your matter is resolved within the timeframes set out in our service standards. If we are unable to deal with your application or query within our target timeframe, we will:

  • provide an interim response to inform you of our progress
  • review the progress of your matter and prioritise its resolution as quickly as possible
  • where necessary, escalate your matter for consideration and decision by the appropriate decision-making body within the ACNC.

Service standards

The ACNC is committed to providing high quality services to the public and to the charities it regulates. The following are the ACNC’s service standards. These standards are guided by our core values of fairness, accountability, independence, integrity and respect.

When you contact us

General telephone enquiries

If you call us we aim to answer your call promptly and courteously within four minutes and respond to your queries on the spot.

We recognise that you may have queries that are complex or unique to your own specific circumstances. In these instances we may need to arrange a call back so that we can research the query sufficiently and give you a specific and thorough response.

Alternatively, if your query is not straightforward, please email us. We aim to provide you with a written response within 7 business days to queries sent to advice@acnc.gov.au.

Target: 80%

General correspondence

We aim to give you a full response to general correspondence within 7 business days of receiving all the information. In some cases, we may request you for further information to give you a full response.

For more complex correspondence, the exact timing and content of our response will depend on each case and the request.

Target: 80%

When you do business with us

Approved forms

When you submit any of the following forms to update your charity's details, we aim to process the request (or make a decision) within 7 business days of receiving all the information:

  • Form 3A – Change of Responsible Persons
  • Form 3B – Change of charity details
  • Form 4A – Request substituted accounting period
  • Form 4B – Request group reporting
  • Form 4C – Bulk Annual Information Statement
  • Form 4D – Apply to keep charity size
  • Form 4E – Group Annual Information Statement
  • Paper Annual Information Statement
 Target: 80%

When you submit any of the following forms to update your charity's details, we aim to make a decision within 15 business days of receiving all the information:

  • Form 1C – Change charity subtype
  • Form 1D – Request withholding
  • Form 5A – Apply to revoke registration
 Target: 90%

Registering a charity

When we have received all the necessary information to progress your application, we aim to make a decision within 15 business days.

We will work closely with you to resolve any issues identified during our decision-making process and provide you with information to understand the requirements.

If it becomes apparent your application is likely to be refused, we will contact you to discuss the reasons before making a decision.

If our decision is to refuse your application, you may submit an internal objection which will be considered independently.

Where you indicate you are seeking tax concessions, we will forward the information to the ATO for consideration.

Target: 90%

We aim to deliver a registration service by knowledgeable staff who are courteous, friendly, helpful, communicate clearly and keep you informed.

After we complete processing your registration application we will ask you to rate your satisfaction with our service.

Target: 90%

When you report a concern to us
Complaints about the ACNC

Resolution of complaints will be as prompt as possible and in accordance with our policy Complaints and compliments about the ACNC.

We aim to acknowledge receiving a complaint within 3 business days and to respond within 20 business days.

Target: 95%

When your charity is under review

Investigations
Investigations finalised within 12 calendar months. Target: 75%

When you request information we hold

General information requests

We aim to acknowledge all requests for access to information within 14 calendar days.

We aim to provide a response to requests not falling under the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act within 30 calendar days.

Target: 100%

Freedom of Information Act requests

We aim to respond to requests for information falling under the Freedom of Information Act within 30 calendar days (plus statutory extensions).

Where third party consultation is required, we aim to provide you with a full response within 60 calendar days.

Target: 100%

Privacy Act requests

If you raise an issue with us that falls under the Privacy Act, we aim to provide a response within 30 calendar days.

Target: 100%