Group reporting and bulk lodgement

This page provides guidance about reporting to the ACNC through:

• group reporting – when a group of registered charities submit one Annual Information Statement and financial report on behalf of the whole group
• bulk lodgement – when multiple registered charities submit more than one Annual Information Statement on a single form.

Group reporting

Your charity can report as part of a group in one of two ways:

• joint reporting – when a group of two or more registered charities, including your charity, submits a single Annual Information Statement, and one financial report (if applicable), which covers all the charities in the group
• collective reporting – when your charity, as part of a group of registered charities, submits one or more Annual Information Statement or financial report on another basis (for example, according to types of activities).

You must apply to the ACNC for joint or collective reporting.

As part of our decision-making process, we will consider your application against a number of factors outlined in the Commissioner’s Policy Statement: Group reporting. These include the public interest in transparency and accountability, our ability to assess compliance, and the impact of group reporting on the compliance and administrative costs of the charities in the group.

If your application for group reporting is successful, the charities will continue to report as a reporting group unless they choose to end the group reporting arrangement, or the ACNC decides to revoke permission to report as a group.

Submitting the Group Annual Information Statement

To submit the Group Annual Information Statement, log in to the Charity Portal and click on the name of the reporting group, then go to 'Manage reporting'.

You can save a draft version of the Annual Information Statement so all group members can review it before submitting.

Group reporting conditions

Charities that are approved for group reporting must adhere to certain group reporting conditions.

Reporting groups will also be subject to annual reviews, and where a reporting group fails to comply with any relevant conditions, we may remove the approval to report as a group.

As group reporting conditions are subject to change, reporting groups should review the group reporting conditions when preparing their Annual Information Statement and financial report (if required) each year.

Charity size and group reporting

Charity size is based on a charity’s annual revenue for the reporting period. Reporting obligations vary depending on charity size.

The size of a reporting groups is based on the size of its largest charity. The reporting group size is:

• large if one or more of the charities in the group is large
• medium if one or more of the charities in the group is medium and none are large, or
• small if none of the charities in the group are medium or large.

Bulk lodgement

Bulk lodgement is the process that allows you to submit more than one Annual Information Statement on behalf of multiple registered charities on a single form.

This is common for organisations such as corporate trustees administering multiple trusts, or a denomination administration office for multiple religious charities.

Unlike group reporting, charities with a bulk lodgement arrangement report information for each specific charity on an individual basis – the information is just submitted on one form.

Submitting the Bulk Annual Information Statement

Bulk Annual Information Statements are submitted to the ACNC via email.

Bulk lodgement aims to reduce the administrative burden for charities. Therefore, submitting the Annual Information Statement on time is a condition of using a bulk lodgement arrangement. If a bulk submission is late, we may not be able to offer the option in the future.

Bulk lodgers should have the authority to submit Annual Information Statements on behalf of the registered charities in the bulk arrangement. Lodgers must inform the charities of the arrangement to avoid duplicate submissions.

We send Annual Information Statement reminders to bulk lodgers in advance. We only notify bulk lodgers, not the individual bulk-lodged charities, when a bulk lodgement form is available and their reporting is due soon. Therefore, it is crucial for bulk lodgers to keep their contact details updated with reporting@acnc.gov.au to ensure smooth communication.

Uploading multiple financial reports

Eligible bulk lodgers should contact us by emailing reporting@acnc.gov.au if they wish to submit their charities' financial reports via a secure file transfer process.

Amending a Bulk Annual Information Statement

If you identify a material error in the Bulk Annual Information Statement you have submitted, you need to amend the submission.

To amend, email reporting@acnc.gov.au with the amended Bulk Annual Information Statement. In the form, only list the ABNs of the charities you want to amend information for in the ‘Charity details’ worksheet.

Updating an individual charity's details

Charities have an obligation to notify the ACNC of changes to their details. Log in to the ACNC Charity Portal to update the details of an individual charity.

To update the details of Responsible People for 10 or more charities at once, use Form 3A: Change of Responsible Person (bulk lodgement). Send the completed form to advice@acnc.gov.au.