Meeting reporting requirements

Your requirements for financial reporting, completing annual returns and notifying us when details change

On this page:

Filing your financial statements

All incorporated societies must prepare and file annual financial statements that record their financial activities and position. The Incorporated Societies Act 2022 (the 2022 Act) will change how some societies need to prepare these.

Registered charities

If your society is a registered charity, you will continue to use External Reporting Board (XRB) reporting standards and file your financial statements with Charities Services. Your audit or review requirements under the Charities Act 2005 also remain the same under the 2022 Act. Find out more on the Charities Service website

All other societies

All other societies must file financial statements with us. After reregistering under the 2022 Act, the standards you need to follow depends on the nature of your society.

  • 'Small’ societies only need to meet minimum requirements set out in the 2022 Act.
  • All other societies must use XRB accounting standards and will fall within one of 4 reporting tiers depending on its size.

These financial statements must be —

  • dated, and
  • signed by 2 members of the committee on behalf of your society.

The reporting standards you must follow

Criteria Standards

Is a 'small society' —

Total operating payments less than $50,000 in each of the previous 2 financial years

+

Total current assets of less than $50,000 at the end of the 2 previous financial years

+

is not a registered charity or donee organisation for tax purposes.

Note
These measures look at what's happened over the previous 2 years so it's possible your society may meet the 'small society' criteria one year but in other years it might not.

Minimum standards under Incorporated Societies Act 2022 apply

  • Financial statements don't need to be audited

Total operating payments less than $140,000

Tier 4 XRB standards apply

  • Simple Format Reporting – Cash
  • Financial statements don’t need to be audited

Total expenses less than $2 million

Tier 3 XRB standards apply

  • Simple Format Reporting – Accrual
  • Financial statements don’t need to be audited

Total expenses less than $30 million

Tier 2 XRB standards apply

  • PBE Standards with reduced disclosure requirements (RDR)
  • Financial statements may need to be audited (see note)

“Public Accountability” or total expenses greater than $30 million

Tier 1 XRB standards apply

  • PBE Standards – Based on IPSAS
  • Financial statements must be audited

Some larger societies must have their statements audited

Your society only needs to have its financial statements audited if in each of the 2 previous accounting periods of the society, the total operating expenditure of the society and all entities it controls (if any) are $3 million or more. 

This covers all Tier 1 societies and some Tier 2 societies but will not cover societies that fall within Tier 3 or Tier 4 or small societies.

External Reporting Board (XRB) webinar

Watch this video presentation by the XRB on the reporting tiers, and in particular Tiers 3 and 4.

New Zealand Companies Office and the External Reporting Board

View transcript

Transcript

Duration: 28:33

Visual

A title screen appears with the words “New reporting requirements for Incorporated Societies, Transition to the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022”. The screen includes the logos for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand Companies Office and the External Reporting Board.

Audio

“Tēnā koutou. Welcome to this webinar about financial reporting requirements for incorporated societies.

My name is Olga Hoxha, from the Information Education team at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and with us today, we have Alex Stainer, from the Accounting Standards team at the External Reporting Board.

Visual

A screen appears with the title “About XRB” and continues:

Purpose: XRB is responsible for developing and issuing financial reporting, auditing, and assurance and climate standards.

What we deliver:

  • Financial reporting standards.
  • Audit and Assurance standards.
  • Climate standards
  • Guidance and implementation support
  • International liaison

Strategic intent: Trusted, Informative, and Integrated.

Vision: New Zealand prospers through effective decision making for resource allocation informed by high-quality, trusted, and integrated reporting.

Audio 

XRB is responsible for developing and issuing financial reporting, auditing, and assurance and climate standards that certain organisations, such as incorporated societies must use, when they prepare their financial statements.

Visual

A screen appears with the “MBIE Opening Karakia” (as per audio)

Audio

We will kick off with the MBIE opening Karakia.

Tāwhia tō mana kia mau, kia māia

Ka huri taku aro ki te pae kahurangi, kei reira te oranga mōku

Mā mahi tahi, ka ora, ka puāwai

Ā mātau mahi katoa, ka pono, ka tika

TIHEI MAURI ORA

Visuals

A slide setting out the agenda for the webinar appears. The text reads:

Agenda

  1. What are the changes under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022?
  2. What are the new financial reporting requirements under the Act 2022?
  3. What is a small society?
  4. How to determine which financial reporting standard to apply?
  5. Audit requirements
  6. Tier 4 Standard
  7. Tier 3 Standard
  8. Other financial reporting considerations

Audio

So, first off, we will talk about the changes for incorporated societies under the Incorporated Societies Act of 2022.

Then we will cover off the new financial reporting requirements under the new Act.  We will discuss what a small society is, and how to determine which financial reporting standards apply to your society.  We will also talk about audit requirements and more specifically, look at tier 4 and tier 3 reporting standard requirements. 

To finish off, we'll talk about other financial reporting considerations.

And now I'll pass it on to Alex to take us through the rest of the presentation.”

Olga hands over to Alex Stainer, from the Accounting Standards team at the External Reporting Board.

Visuals

A slide appears with the title “The new Incorporated Societies Act 2022”. The main text reads:

New Act

  • Reduced number of members 
  • Prohibited financial gain
  • Specifies duties of officers
  • Dispute resolution processes
  • Constitution requirements
  • Financial reporting requirements

Transition period for replacing 1908 Act

  • 5 October 2023 – 5 April 2026
  • Societies to reregister

Audio

“Cool, thank you, Olga.  Kia ora and hello everyone, it's great to be presenting today.

Before I begin, I’d first just like to acknowledge you all, and the work that you do.  I appreciate that there's a lot of effort in running your societies and the contributions do make a real difference to our communities. I’ve certainly benefited from being a member at various clubs over the years, so thank you for all that you do.

Now in this session today I will be just covering the recent changes to reporting requirements for incorporated societies.

The previous Act, the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 was over a hundred years old, and on the back of a review undertaken by the Law Commission in 2013, it was recommended that an overhaul needed to take place, where the Act needed to have a clearer governance requirement and be modernised in some places.

And so, following a process over the last 10 years or so, the Act was drafted and now the new Act took effect in October 2023 and as expected, there are several implications for incorporated societies.  You’ll likely need to update your constitutions and you'll also have new financial reporting requirements.

So previously incorporated societies have only been subject to the minimum requirements in the old 1908 Act along with any other requirement that you may have agreed in your own constitution.

So with the new Act being introduced, there is a 2½ year transition period, where it will replace the old 1908 Act and what this means is that societies, if they wish to remain incorporated, must reregister under the new Act, between October 2023 and April 2026, and only once you do re-register, do the rules of the new Act take effect and the new financial reporting requirements need to be followed.

Visuals

A slide appears with the title “What are the financial reporting requirements of the new Act?”

The main text reads:

Financial Reporting Requirements (s102)

  • Some (not all) incorporated societies will need to comply with XRB financial reporting standards
  • A ‘small society’ can choose to follow requirements in s104 of the Act instead.

Incorporated societies that do not meet the criteria to be a small society will need to apply the XRB standards.

Audio

So, what are the new financial reporting requirements?  Very simply, some incorporated societies will need to prepare financial statements in line with the XRB financial reporting standards.  However, not all have to, and there is an important exception to this, so those societies that meet the criteria of a small society as set out in the new Act, can actually choose, so these societies can choose to follow the requirements and section 104 of the Act, or they can instead use the XRB financial reporting standards.

Now for all other societies, the legislation does not provide that option to follow the requirements in Section 104, and instead it refers to preparing financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice, or GAAP for short, and in some cases, a non-GAAP standard.  So, where these terms are used or referred to in the legislation, it means the applicable financial reporting standards issued by the XRB.

So therefore, incorporated societies that do not meet the criteria to be a small society will need to apply the XRB standards.  And more on the XRB standards shortly, but first I would like to cover what a small society is.

Visuals

A new slide appears with the title “What is a ‘small society’?” and continues:

Operating payments – less than $50,000

+

Current assets – less than $50,000

+

Organisation type – Not a registered charity or approved donee organisation

=

Small society

Audio

The criteria to be a small society is that you must have both your operating payments and your current assets, less than $50,000 in each of your last two financial years, and your society must not be a registered charity, or an approved donee organisation with Inland Revenue.

Now I note that operating payments are the total of expenses that were actually paid during the year so, either in cash or from your bank account.  This excludes capital payments such as purchasing assets or debt repayments.  And current assets are defined in the regulations that accompany the Act specifically for this criteria, however total current assets, include those assets that are expected to be consumed, used up, sold within 12 months after the society's financial year end or it also includes those assets that are primarily held for the purpose of being traded and this is in contrast to non-current assets, such as equipment or buildings, where you expect to hold the asset for a much longer period.

So, ultimately if you are a small society you can choose to either prepare your financial statements in line with the requirements set out in the Act or apply the XRB reporting standards.  And the minimum requirements that are in section 104 of the Act are practically the same requirements that were in the old 1908 Act and they state that your financial statements must contain information on income and expenditure, or receipts and payments, your assets and liabilities and your mortgages, or if you have any other security interest over the property of your society.

So, for society that's electing this option, nothing much changes.  You can largely continue to prepare financial statements in the same way that you have always done.

Visuals

A new slide appears with the title “XRB sectors of financial reporting standards” which continues:

There are 3 sectors XRB issues financial reporting standards for:

  • Not-for-profit
  • Public Sector
  • For-profit

Most societies can apply not-for-profit reporting standards 

Not sure? See Appendix A in XRB A1 for further information.

Audio 

For all other societies, you will need to apply the XRB reporting standards.  For context, the XRB issues reporting standards across three different sectors:

  • the for profit,
  • the public sector and
  • the not-for-profit sector.

Most societies can use the accounting standards of the not-for-profit sector and we expect this is the case based on the primary nature of what most societies do and have been started for. So, the XRB considers that a not for profit is an entity that aims primarily to deliver goods or services for community or social benefit, not with an intention for returns on equity or to equity holders.  So, this does not mean that if you generate a surplus that you cannot be a not for profit, it just goes back to your intention, and what you'll use those surpluses for. And the new Act also prohibits a society from primarily operating for the financial gain of its members.

However, we do acknowledge that there may be a few exceptions and there may be a few societies that fit better in another sector. So, if you do want to review that further, take a look at XRB A1 which is a document on our accounting standards, framework, and in appendix A provides some guidance on how you can make that assessment.

Visuals

Screen changes to a slide titled “Determine your Reporting Tier” and continues:

Not-for-Profit sector – Reporting Tiers*

  • Tiers 1 & 2 – Total expenses over $5 million**
  • Tier 3 – Total expenses under $5 million and operating payments over $140,000
  • Tier 4 – Operating payments under $140,000

*Applicable for financial years ending 31 March 2024 and later.

**Tier 1 over $33 million and Tier 2 under $33 million of total expenses.

Public Accountability

If you have public accountability as defined in XRB A1 you will be required to apply Tier 1

Audio

So once a society confirms its relevant sector, you'll need to determine the applicable accounting standards to apply, and our standards are actually grouped by reporting tiers and these tiers are based on the financial size of an organisation.  So, tiers 1 and 2 are for our larger organisations. These are subject to more complex requirements, and they’re based on international standards.  These societies will also very likely need to have their financial statements audited. However, we only expect a very small portion of societies will need to apply this tier.

Tier 3 is for our mid-range to smaller organisations, and it is a single New Zealand financial reporting standard, with simpler and more straightforward requirements than tiers 1 and 2.  And tier 4 is for our smallest organisations, and it is again a single New Zealand financial reporting standard, and it's been designed to be picked up by anyone to use to prepare their financial statements.  And we actually expect that this tier, the majority of societies will, need to apply the XRB standards will fall into, and so therefore they'll use that tier 4 standard.

Now just a couple of notes around these tiers. So, for societies that own, or control another entity, the reporting tier must be assessed, based on the sum of your total expenses or your total operating payments, across the society and all entities that it controls.

And finally, please note that public accountability is a specifically defined term in XRB A1 , so you should not take a general meaning of that term, when making that assessment around whether your society is publicly accountable.

Visuals

A new slide titled “When?” appears with a visual of a timeline from 2023-2026 and continues:

Example…

If a society has a 30 June financial year end

Audio

Now, as noted before, these requirements only take effect once your society has reregistered under the new Act, and so from that date you must apply the requirements to the preparation of your next set of financial statements.  For example, if your society has a financial year of 30 June and decides to reregister in December 2024,

Visuals

Visual appears on timeline showing — Dec 2024 - reregistered.

Audio

if you had already completed your 30 June 2024 financial statements, your society would apply the new requirements to the 30 June 2025 financial year.

Visuals

Visual appears on timeline showing — June 2025 – apply new reporting June 2025 year end

Audio

It's important to note that the new Act also requires that financial statements are completed and along with an annual return, are filed within 6 months of your society's financial year end.

Visuals

A new slide titled “Audit requirements” appears. It continues:

Incorporated societies Regulations 2023 (s16)

Requires certain societies to be audited if:

  • Not a charitable entity; and
  • Group operating expenditure is $3 million or more in each of the last 2 financial years

Audio

In terms of an audit requirement, only certain larger societies will be required to have their financial statements audited. So, a society must not be a charity, as charity legislation will apply for your audit requirements, but you’ll also need to have operating expenditure for your society and all entities it controls, it must be $3 million or more in each of the last 2 financial years.  Now we do understand that a number of societies have their financial statements either reviewed or audited already, and this may be due to other legislation, or it may be a requirement that you've agreed within your own constitution – nothing needs to change here for these entities.  It just means that the societies that meet this criteria, must now have their financial statements audited.

I now want to give an overview of a couple of the XRB standards so that you get an idea of what is involved when using these.

Visuals

A new slide titled “Tier 4 Standard” appears. It continues:

  • Single standard
  • Cash based
  • Minimal requirements
  • First year concession

The slide also shows the following table:

Non-financial information about activities

Statement of service performance

Cash received and cash paid

Statement of cash received and cash paid

Information about:

  • How the entity has done its accounting
  • Significant assets and liabilities
  • Transactions with close relationships (if any)

Accounting policies and notes (fairly limited)

Audio 

First I will cover the tier 4 standard

As noted before, it is a single New Zealand reporting standard, so all your requirements are included in one document. It is a cash-based standard, meaning that transactions are only recorded when cash is received or paid. So, this means it captures payments and receipts through your bank account as well as physical cash, and this is in contrast to recording transactions when they occur, such as recording an invoice when it hasn't been paid.

So, you will need to prepare two statements. So, there’s a statement of service performance and a statement of cash received and cash paid, and you also need to provide some explanatory information in your accounting policies and the notes. There is also a first-year concession, where you can apply the tier 4 standard from just your current financial year. You do not need to go back and apply the standards requirements to your previous financial year information, or even display any previous year financial information in the financial statements. Instead, you can just attach a copy of your previous year financial statements to your current year financial statements. So, access to the standards, guidance and templates is on our website .  

And just to cover some of these components in a little more detail, just walk through them – starting with the Statement of Service Performance,

Visuals

New slide appears titled “Statement of service performance – Tier 4 Standard” and continues:

  • Non-financial information
  • Describe and quantify main activities
  • Present in any format

This slide also shows a table titled “Statement of service performance” with columns titled “Description of main activities undertaken during the past year”, and “Quantity” for “Current year” and “Last year”.

Audio

so this statement’s intended to outline the performance of your society from a non-financial perspective. So, it aims to provide information that helps your members, or other readers of your report, get an understanding of what your society is doing to achieve its objectives along with its purpose.

So, the statement will ask you to describe the main activities that you have undertaken during the year, and to provide a measure of those main activities, and this might be the number of specific events that you've held or meetings or new services that you've performed.  And you can present this information in whichever format, so you could use graphs, could use tables, images, infographics. We do have a template, and this is featured on the slide, and it just provides a very simple format and this is just a written description.

Visuals

A new slide appears titled “Statement of cash received and cash paid – Tier 4 Standard” and continues:

  • Summarises and reconciles all cash received and paid
  • 2 main sections – Operating activities & Other activities
  • Classify transactions into set line items e.g. General grants received

This slide also shows a table titled “Statement of cash received and cash paid” and includes columns for “current year $” and “last year $” and “notes” for:

  • Opening balance in bank account(s) – at the start of the financial year
  • Plus, cash received from operating activities.
  • Donations, koha, bequests and other fundraising
  • General grants received.

Audio

Now the statement of cash received and cash paid; this statement summarises all transactions that are recorded through your bank account, and those transactions paid or received in physical cash during the year.  It will ask you to classify these individual transactions into common groups or common line items as the standard notes, in order to present combined totals for the year.  So, there are two main sections.  You have your operating activities and your other activities, and operating activities simply include your day-to-day activities, whereas your other activities will include payments or receipts for capital items, more one-off type transactions, and so this might include purchase of assets, or making an investment, or receiving funds from a loan.

The format of the statement and the classifications to be used for these line items, they are set by the standard.  So, for instance I've only shown two line items on the slides, these are donations, koha, bequests and other fundraising, and general grants received. These are set by the standard, but, there are of course, other line items set in the standard to cover all the different types of receipt payments.  And so, these line items only need to be used when they are applicable to you but it's worth noting that they should not be combined together or separated into more detailed items in the statement.  

You can include a further breakdown of information in the notes to the report. For instance, if you wanted to show individual components of the general grants received, you would do this in the notes.  You can also change the names for these line items if you think it will make it more understandable to your members. And because the statement is all about cash, it reconciles your opening cash and bank balance from the start of the financial year with your closing cash and bank balance at the end of your financial year. So, it is a great check to ensure that all your transactions are recorded, and just provides a really good process for you to follow.

Visuals

A new slide appears titled “Accounting policies and notes (fairly limited) – Tier 4 Standard” and continues:

Information about:

  • How the entity has done it’s accounting.

Provide information about:

  • How you have prepared the Financial Statements
  • How you have recorded GST

This slide also shows a table titled “Notes:” and includes:

The organisation preparing this Service Performance report is permitted by applicable legislation to apply the Tier 4 (NFP) Standard issued by the External Reporting Board (XRB) and the organisation has elected to use this Standard. All transactions included in the Statement of Cash Received and Cash Paid and related notes to the Performance Report have been reported on a cash basis.

All amounts are recorded on a GST inclusive basis.

Audio

Now, the other component of the report is the accounting policies and the notes and the purpose of these sections is to provide explanatory information that just helps the understanding of the report.  And the first component of this is to provide a description of how your entity has done its accounting, and there are two main parts to this.  

  • So, first of all, it's how have you prepared your financial statements, and this would include saying that you've prepared the report in accordance with the tier 4 standard, and that transactions are recorded on a cash basis.  
  • And the second part of that is how have you recorded GST in the report?  Is it on an inclusive basis, or a GST exclusive basis?  Wording is provided in our template, so I suggest if you're looking for help on that, you go and visit our template.

Visuals

A new slide appears titled “Accounting policies and notes (fairly limited) – Tier 4 Standard” and continues:

Information about:

  • Significant assets and liabilities

And:

  • Description of significant assets and liabilities
  • For assets record amount at what you purchased for or estimate of current value
  • For liabilities record amount to settle the liability
  • Use format and applicable line items

This slide also shows a table titled “Significant assets – information about significant assets held is required based on applicable lines below.” and includes the “description of asset”, “current year” and “last year” for the following:

  • Land and buildings
  • Vehicles
  • Investments (shares, bonds, units in managed funds)
  • Amounts loaned to other organisations or persons

Audio

The next component is information about your assets and your liabilities.  Now note that no balance sheet or a statement of financial position is required for the tier 4 standard. So, you will need to provide a description of your significant assets and liabilities, but you're not required to be exhaustive here and list every single asset that you have, only the more significant ones.  And for assets, the amounts that you record them at, could be what you purchase the assets for, or it could be an estimate of its value, and this estimate of value could be based on the replacement, what that would cost, or an estimated sale price, or for land and buildings it could be a rateable value. And it's a similar situation for liabilities, you provide a description of the amounts that you owe to other parties, and you would show the amount that's required to be paid to settle that liability.  And so, for both liabilities and assets the standard will inform you of the format and the applicable line items to be used.

Visuals

A new slide appears titled “Accounting policies and notes (fairly limited) – Tier 4 Standard” and continues:

Information about:

  • Transactions with close relationships (if any)

And:

  • Disclose transactions with related parties
  • Includes those with influence over decisions

This slide also shows a table titled “Transactions with close relationships” and includes columns titled “description close relationship”, “description of transaction”, “Cash received/(paid) during year (current year $/last year $)” and “Amount owing from/(to) close relationship (end of current year/end of last year).

There is a note at the bottom of the table: Or delete above if there was no close relationship transactions and use the note below.

Audio

Finally, there is a related party disclosure, and this type of disclosure aims to let your members know and other users know whether any transactions have occurred with those that are closely related to the society.  So, those parties that could have a close relationship with the society are listed out in the standard, but generally it will include individuals and their close family members that have influence over the decisions of the society, so it's likely to be those on your committee, or even those managing your society. The template and the standard will step you through those requirements.

Visuals

A screenshot shows an XRB video on YouTube of an illustrated person completing the templates.

Audio

And last year we actually produced a short, animated video that explains how to use our tier 4 template , there are links to this on the XRB website, and I'd recommend taking a look if you do have a few minutes.

Now over to the tier 3 standard

Visuals

A new slide titled “Tier 3 Standard” appears. It continues:

  • Single standard
  • Accrual Based
  • First year concession

The slide also shows the following table:

Non-financial information about activities and objectives

Statement of service performance

Revenue and

expenses

Statement of financial performance 

Assets, liabilities, accumulated funds

Statement of financial position

Cash received and cash paid

Statement of cash flows

How the entity has done its accounting

Statement of accounting policies

More detailed information about the key items

Notes 

Audio

I won't go into as much detail on this, but the standard is also intended to have straightforward requirements, especially if your society is not subject to a lot of complexity.

It is again a single New Zealand reporting standard so one document, with all your requirements included in it. Now it is accrual-based, so this means transactions must be recorded as they occur, rather than when cash is received or paid. And like the tier 4 standard, there is a first-year concession where, instead of redoing your prior year numbers, you can instead attach a copy of your previous year financial statements to the set of current year financial statements.

Visuals

A new slide titled “Statement of service performance – Tier 3 Standard” appears. It continues:

  • Provide information on medium and long-term objectives
  • Display progress toward objectives during the year
    • Use a meaningful mix of measures to evaluate activities undertaken during the year
  • Present in any format

Audio

So, with the statement of service performance, this is similar to tier 4, but you will need to provide information on what your society is aiming to achieve over the medium to long term and your progress towards those objectives. So, to give an example of this, a society's mission or purpose could be to support and promote participation in a certain sport and maybe it would have medium to long term goals of increasing youth participation or improving facilities, or increasing engagement with the community and then you would tie the activities that you've undertaken during the year to these particular objectives.

You should aim to provide information that's of most use and relevance to your members, and it will likely include information you already aim to communicate with members in one way or another.

Visuals

A new slide titled “Statement of financial performance, Statement of financial position, Statement of cash flows– Tier 3 Standard” appears. It continues:

  • Presentation and format specified 
  • Classify revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities as specified 
  • Prescribed accounting policies
  • Not many estimates required (e.g. useful life for depreciation, or collection of receivables)

Audio

Now with these statements, the statement of financial performance, financial position and cash flows, it's worth being aware that there are presentation and format requirements for how you prepare these statements, so this means that there are also classifications, that are specified for your revenue, your expenses, your assets and your liabilities.  There are also prescribed accounting policies which dictate how you record these different types, sorry, the different types of revenue, expenses, assets, and liabilities. For instance, in terms of revenue, there will be a specific accounting policy for how you record membership fees and subscriptions.

You will only need to make a few estimates, such as for recording depreciation and property, plants and equipment for depreciation will need to be based on the estimated useful life of the asset as opposed to an IRD depreciation rate.

Visuals

A new slide titled “Statement of accounting policies – Tier 3 Standard” appears. It continues:

  • Standard accounting policies to disclose
  • Note accounting policies used for significant items
  • Changes in accounting policy

It also includes the title “Notes to the Performance Report” and continues:

  • Explanatory information in the Notes
  • Specifies certain Notes when applicable e.g. related party transactions, analysis on property plant and equipment.

Audio

Now for statement of accounting policies, again similar to tier 4, it will require certain policies to explain how you've done your accounting, and a statement of compliance with the tier 3 standard, but you also need to include accounting policies for significant items.  So, this could be significant assets and liabilities, which will often tie to revenue and expense policies, but you also may have significant judgements or estimates that you need to show, and if you do change an accounting policy, then it will need to be noted.  And the notes to the performance report, this is where all the explanatory information is included, anything that would be useful to provide context to your members. And the standard does specify that certain notes need to be included when they are applicable, and these include certain things, such as information on your related party transactions, again similar to tier 4 or when you need additional analysis on your property, plant and equipment, such as breaking it down into classes of assets with cost and depreciation, revaluation, etc. And so that is just a brief overview of the main components of a report prepared using the tier 3 standard.

If you do want more information, access to the standard, guidance and templates are available on our website .

Visuals

A new slide appears titled “Other financial reporting considerations” and continues:

What else should we consider?

  • Other information included in your previous reporting
  • Service performance reporting
  • Accounting for interests in other entities (Tier 1, 2, and 3)
  • Time, effort and capability to implement changes

Audio

Finally, I also just wanted to introduce some other high-level things to consider from a financial reporting perspective.

So first, you may have included other information in your previous reporting that is no longer required, we do understand that some societies report trading statements for bars or for livestock or maybe include reporting that's segmented by membership class or by membership and non-membership activities. Applying the XRB standards does not mean you must exclude this information, but it is worth considering whether you continue reporting on this, and how you do so.  So, you may consider, do your members still need this information be reported going forward? Could it be reported separately or, if you do want to include it, how would you integrate this into your notes?

Second, the service performance reporting, I have discussed these requirements earlier, but you may need to consider what your members expectations are in terms of your service performance reporting, and the measures and objectives that are used, and the information that they actually want.  And because this does relate to non-financial information, do you have the data and the information required for what you actually want to report on?

Now, if your society will be subject to an audit, your statement of service performance will also be within the scope of the audit, so it is worthwhile understanding the support required to substantiate your disclosures in this statement.  

And third, accounting for interests and other entities, so tiers 1, 2 and 3 of the XRB accounting standards include requirements for consolidation, and for the accounting of interest in other entities.  Determining if these requirements apply to you is not always straightforward, and if your society does need to apply these requirements, you will need information from other entities in order to complete your financial statements.

So, if you own or control another entity, it is likely that you'll need to consolidate, and this refers to the process of combining financial information across all entities within a group to present a single set of financial statements.  You may also need to consider if you've entered into agreements with other organisations to jointly run a type of operation or activity. In these cases, you may need to account for a joint arrangement.  And if you have investment that gives you significant influence over an entity, and how they operate, in these cases you may also need to account for an investment and an associate.

So, these things all have specific requirements but the main thing to be aware of is that you will be reliant on information from other entities which is something to consider from a timeline perspective on when you need to complete your financial statements by.

And finally, I would suggest just considering the time, effort, capability to make change. I know that some societies may face situations where the impact is more significant. And it is important to consider what those changes will mean for your society and when you need to have your financial statements completed by; and so some of the things you may consider, are you now, subject to an audit?  Do you have any specific issues or complexity that you face? Maybe you do need to account for interest in other entities. The timelines where you need to address these items by and also just the capacity that you have within your organisation to implement these things, these changes. 

And now that is everything from me, and what I wanted to cover in this session.  I will now hand back over to you, Olga. Thank you very much, everyone.”

Alex hands back over to Olga.

Visuals

A new slide appears titled “For more information…” and shows a screenshot of the XRB web page titled “Reporting made simple”: Small charities and incorporated societies”

The slide includes the web page address: https://www.xrb.govt.nz/standards/accounting-standards/incorporated-societies/

This slide also includes an email address: Email us Accounting@xrb.govt.nz and a QR code.

Audio

“Thank you, Alex. Very interesting and insightful presentation for us, we really appreciate your time.

So, if you have any questions, you can always go to the XRB website where you can sign up for updates.

Alternatively, you could email the Accounting Standards team at accounting@xrb.govt.nz

Visuals

A new slide appears which includes “If you have any specific questions for the Registrar of Incorporated Societies: Contact us at engage@societies.govt.nz

Audio 

Or if you have specific questions about the law changes, and would like to reach out to the Registrar of Incorporated Societies, you can use this email address, which is engage@societies.govt.n

We'll be looking forward to your questions, and this brings us to the end of our webinar, so we'll close off with MBIE closing Karakia.

Visuals

A new slide appears with the MBIE closing Karakia (as per audio)

Audio

Ka hiki te tapu

Kia wātea ai te ara

Kia turuki ai te ao mārama

Hui ē, Tāiki ē

Thank you very much, Alex.”

Closing visuals

A new slide appears with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment logo and New Zealand Government logo

Completing your annual return

All incorporated societies registered under the 2022 Act must complete an annual return. The annual return is a record of key information about your society, such as address and officer details.

Registered charities

If your society is a registered charity, you will continue to file your annual return with Charities Services. Find out more on the Charities Service website .

All other societies

All other societies must complete an annual return with us. You will complete this online at the same time you file your financial statements. This keeps the register up to date and shows that your society is still operating.

You will need to check and, if necessary, update the details recorded on the register for your society’s officers and addresses.

You will also need to certify that, at the time you complete the annual return, the —

  1. information about the society on the Incorporated Societies Register is up to date, and
  2. number of members is at least 10 for the purposes of section 8(1) of Incorporated Societies Act 2022.

Notifying us when details change

All societies, even if they are registered charities, must notify us of the following changes.

  • Changes to its constitution – within 25 working days.
  • Changes to its officers (when new officers are elected or appointed, if they’ve changed their address or when they cease to act) – within 20 working days. 
  • Changes of contact person - within 20 working days.
  • Changes to its registered office address – at least 5 working days before the address is due to take effect.

To notify us you just need to update your society’s details online. Find out more about updating your details

How you can stay up to date

We will update the information here on our website throughout the reregistration period. You can also choose to receive updates from us directly to your inbox.

Sign up to receive updates from us

If you have any questions or comments about these law changes, you can email us at engage@societies.govt.nz.

Published 8 July 2022, updated 9 October 2024