What Your Charity Needs to Report to the ACNC

Reporting to the ACNC

Every registered charity in Australia has to report to the ACNC each year. What you need to submit depends mainly on your charity's size. Here is the simple version.

Last checked against ACNC guidance on 23 August 2026.

Every charity submits an Annual Information Statement (AIS) within 6 months of its financial year end. Medium and large charities also lodge a financial report. Miss two years in a row and the ACNC can deregister you, which takes your DGR status with it.

Your size is based on your annual revenue for the most recent financial year, so it can shift from one year to the next if your revenue moves across a threshold.

What goes into the Annual Information Statement

The AIS asks for three things.

Basic information. Your charity's name, ABN, contact details, responsible persons, subtype and activities.

A financial summary. Total revenue and expenses, employee numbers, assets and liabilities.

Governance details. Related party transactions, changes to your governing documents, and how you are meeting the Governance Standards below.

Start pulling this together before your due date arrives. If your financial records are kept organised through the year, the AIS itself takes a fraction of the time.

Financial reports, if you need one

Small charities do not have to lodge a financial report, just the AIS, though you still need to keep accurate records for at least 7 years and tell the ACNC about any significant changes.

Medium charities lodge the AIS plus a reviewed or audited financial report, with a signed responsible persons' declaration.

Large charities lodge the AIS plus a financial report audited by a registered company auditor, also with a signed declaration, and must use the full accrual accounting method.

When it is due

Your AIS and financial report, if you need one, are due within 6 months of the end of your charity's reporting period.

The ACNC extended the standard deadline for the 2025 Annual Information Statement (charities reporting to 30 June 2025) to 31 January 2026. Extensions like this apply to a specific reporting period rather than changing the standard rule, so always confirm your charity's actual due date on the ACNC Charity Portal. Late submissions can trigger compliance action, so if you need more time, apply for an extension before the due date rather than after it.

The governance standards

Most registered charities need to meet the ACNC's six Governance Standards (Basic Religious Charities are generally exempt, though they still have their own reporting obligations).

1. Purposes and not-for-profit nature. Operate for your stated charitable purpose and stay not-for-profit.
2. Accountability to members. Keep accurate membership records and share activity and financial information with them.
3. Compliance with laws. Comply with Australian law and take reasonable steps to keep doing so.
4. Suitability of responsible persons. Check that responsible persons are not disqualified from holding the role.
5. Duties of responsible persons. Act with care and diligence, in good faith, and without conflicts of interest.
6. Maintaining public trust. Take reasonable steps to join the National Redress Scheme if your charity is, or is likely to be, identified as involved in the abuse of a person. This one matters most for charities working with children or other vulnerable people.

Related party transactions

If your charity pays, lends to, buys from or receives donations from a board member, key management personnel or their close family, that needs to be disclosed in your AIS and financial report. The detail depends on the transaction type. For the full breakdown, see our guide to related party transactions and transparency.

If something slips

The most common way charities end up in compliance trouble is missing a due date or submitting an AIS with an outdated contact detail or an incorrect size category. None of these are hard to avoid. Set a reminder well before your due date, update the ACNC as soon as anything changes, and check your revenue against the size thresholds each year rather than assuming last year's category still applies.

Where to go for help

The ACNC provides free resources for charities working through their reporting obligations.

• ACNC Charity Portal, to submit your AIS online
• Reporting guides, with step-by-step instructions
• Governance standards guidance
• ACNC Advice Line, for phone support

If your charity's reporting has become more admin than anyone has time for, that is exactly the kind of thing our operations and compliance work is built to fix. Get in touch and tell us what is not working.