Question:
Write report to analysis of Breast Cancer Network Australia.
The report is based on evaluating the legal structure of an organisation named Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA). The reports cover key organisational aspect of BCNA such as its history, organisational structure, mission and vision and programs among others. Furthermore, the report also describes the legal structure of the organisation such as the regulatory framework and the taxation system among others.
Company History
BCNA is a national company which comprise network of above 110,000 members and 300 member groups. The founder of BCNA was Lyn Swinburne who was spotted with breast cancer in the year 1993 and underwent surgery and many therapies. As a consequence of her experience and knowledge, she became a committed supporter in the best interests of females with breast cancer. In the year 1998, she imagined a company which can positively impact on the manner breast cancer is measured in the community. Thus, she founded the organisation with the intention to talk openly regarding the illness and admit its vast personal influence. BCNA continues to act towards assisting females and their families to access best information, treatment, care and support.
Any operational organisation requires to have certain structure in order to function effectively. For an organisation, the structure is regarded as the hierarchy of people and its functions. A typical organisation can take bureaucratic structure, flat structure, hierarchical structure, tall structure, functional structure, matrix structure and divisional structure. In this context, it can be stated that BCNA has flat organisational structure. It has few level of middle management between the members. It concentrates on empowering the members, rather than adhering to the chain of commands. By inspiring independence and self-direction, BCNA attempt to tap into the creative talents of the members to provide new information and to solve problems of breast cancer by cooperation.
Vision: BCNA acts to make sure that Australians impacted by breast cancer obtain the best possible support, information, cure and care according to individual requirements.
Mission: BCNA supports, notifies, represents and associates Australians affected by breast cancer (Breast Cancer Network Australia, 2016).
The organisation value of BCNA is honesty, thoughtful, connection and resilience. The organisation aims to provide honest recommendations for people who are suffering from breast cancer. It built engagement and capability for the members and provide healthcare and social support. It constantly expands and improves the ranges of activities and programs to fulfil the requirements of Australians who are affected by breast cancer.
Cancer Support: BCNA provides professional one on one counselling support to male and female with secondary breast cancer. It is a free and confidential service intends to assist people suffered with secondary breast cancer and to cope with variety of concerns they are experiencing.
Fitness Program: BCNA has also developed a fitness program named Fernwood Fitness, which is intended to assist female spotted with breast cancer to stay active and healthy (Breast Cancer Network Australia, 2014).
BCNA deals with only one customer segment which are female with breast cancer. Furthermore, it also provides support service to male with secondary breast cancer and the families.
The key objective of financial report of trustee is to make sure that the trustee is publicly responsible for the stewardship of the capitals it maintains. The report must support the people to evaluate the charity’s development against the objectives and to comprehend its plans with respect to the objectives. Every charity or trust with gross income more than £25,000 requires to submit the financial report to the respected authority. The component of annual report usually comprise management details, objectives and functions, achievement and performance, financial appraisal, plans for future and any funds that the organisation holds as custodian trustees for other charities (The National Council for Voluntary Organisations, 2011).
Audit is a vital activity in any kind of organisation, irrespective of the legal structure. Indeed, the kind of audit required is subject to the income and assets of the organisation. In broad context, an independent evaluation is essential if the income is between £25,000 and £1 million and audit is also essential where gross income surpasses £1 million. An audit is also necessary when the total asset surpasses £3.26 million and the organisation’s gross income is above £250,000. Irrespective of thresholds, an external audit of accounts in essential if it is required by the organisation’s governing document.
There are various legal structures for starting an organisation such as sole proprietorship, partnership, limited company, trust, not for profit and charity among others. BCNA is formed on the basis of not for profit structure. It is basically a kind of trust with no specific legal entity. This type of legal structure is used for charitable purposes as with the case of BCNA (Bourgeois, 2002).
BCNA is registered as a fundraiser company in every state and territory of Australia. It is a registered charity which is listed under Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC). BCNA comprise board of directors with 11 key members, comprising the chairman, CEO. Furthermore, in the year 2014, the membership of the company increased to about 100,000 members who share their experience and support volunteering activities.
Charity has technical legal meaning and structure. The legal structure must satisfy the charity’s requirement and permit for future development. Charities have ranges of framework such as incorporated or unincorporated. In this context, BCNA follows the unincorporated framework. It is a trust with unincorporated association with less formal structure and no distinct legal individuality (Commonwealth of Australia, 2011).
Licencing requirement: Trustees require to hold a Registrable Superannuation Entity licence issued by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. This organisation supervises banks, financial institutions, credit unions, societies, general insurance and other superannuation industries. Furthermore, trustees should obtain Registrable Superannuation Entities (RSEs) licence before starting its operation. An organisation seeking RSE licence must pay the proper fees. The schedule fees are specified in r.3A.06 of the regulations which are subject to the type of RSE licence (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, 2011). Under the organisational structure, not for profit organisation such as BCNA generally registered as public company which has limited guarantee. Limited guarantee in this context signify that the responsibility of the key members are restricted to the amount the members commence to support the assets of the organisation. BCNA is also registered under the Corporations Act 2001 which is a commonwealth legislation managed by the ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission, 2016).
Laws and Regulations: Nor for profit organisations such as BCNA exists to undertake charitable liabilities and thus the company is highly regulated. Apart from fundraising and grant prospects, the profit resulting from such functions in BCNA is usually exempted from federal and state income tax. Since, BCNA serve the citizens for noble purposes they enjoy specific tax status and are based on significant national regulations.
Non-profit organisations perform under various designations. Diverse tax exemption requirements exist on the basis of the kind of the company. However, in order to enjoy tax exemptions, the organisation required to be devoted to undertake the activities which are not typically conducted for profit making. No revenue is permitted to provide monetary advantage to the organisational members or the shareholders.
Variety of tax allowances are also exist for BCNA for example income tax, FBT, FBT rebate, GST concession for charity and gift deductible and refunds for franking credits among others. Regulations for BCNA are quite similar to those incorporating for profit business. BCNA is able to obtain foundational grants and the procedure of gaining tax exempt status is more straightforward in comparison with other companies which are not incorporated. However, it requires to complete requests for tax exception on the state government level. The organisation must also define the organisational goals along with any corporate goals. BCNA qualifies for income tax exemption under section 50-10 item 2.1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act of 1997 as a not for profit company created for social service.
Not for Profit Status
BCNA in the simplest variation is an organisation for which profit making is not key objective. However, it does not signify that BCNA cannot earn profit. It generates various services and earns profit accordingly in the anticipation for enhancing the revenue. Nevertheless, every earning requires to go back to the company, i.e. there is no profit sharing among the organisational members. Generally, there are no specific owners in BCNA. There are three kinds of non-profit organisations identified by the federal government which are a corporation, unincorporated company and trust. In this context, BCNA is recognised as a trust, which has narrow interest in comparison with other two not for profit entities. The laws which oversee BCNA are established with charitable trusts (Community Tool Box, 2016).
In not for profit organisation, the mission statement must be clear. It is statement about the existence of the company. It is ambitious in nature and can never be accomplished completely. BCNA has clear and ambitious mission statement. The mission statement defines why the company act in specific manner and how its work is done. Besides, BCNA also has a vision which signifies what the company looks like. It delimits the potential strategy of BCNA and also the boundaries of the company. The boundaries within which BCNA performs define its value (Australian Taxation Office, 2015).
Receiving gifts is a vital method of obtaining financial support for BCNA. However, there are certain regulations which apply to both the donors and the company accepting the gift. In order to deductible the gift must comply with relevant gift condition and must be a gift of money or certain kind of property. The donors require to give gifts without obtaining any benefits or services in return. On the other hand, BCNA which provides financial support to possible donors can lead to loss of tax except status of the company. Besides, BCNA is required to register fundraising functions with the government in which it propose to solicit gifts. BCNA is endorsed as Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) under section 30-20 and subdivision 30-B of the Income tax Assessment Act of 1997 as a specific health recipient. Every gift values more than $2 and over is tax deductible (Breast Cancer Network Australia, 2016).
Shareholders forms a major part of the operations of the companies in the present day business context. It is believed that the role of the shareholders mainly comprise of their association with the business in the form of putting considerable investments and acquiring return for the same. This can be justified from the fact that shareholders plays an external role with regard to considering the manner in which the business could be able to attain its objectives of higher revenue and profitability in the long run. In this particular study, focus has been on the analysis of the operations of Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA), which is one of the notable companies operating in Australia. The accountability of the shareholders mainly comprise of involving in the decision making of the business and at the same time contributing towards the attainment of the goals of the organization in the long run. The shareholders are also responsible for assuring that the company is meeting their goals and objectives in terms of environmental and social responsibility.
Conclusion
BCNA is a not for profit organisation which intends to provide support to the Australian people who are suffering from breast cancer. It provides relevant information treatment and care to the people. It is registered as a fundraiser company and has above 100,000 members. As a not for profit company, BCNA enjoys various facilities such as tax exemption and gifts among others. However, in order to act according to its vision, it must enhance the fundraising activities and develop various programs which can truly help the people in need.
References
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. “Instruction Guide Application Form – RSE Licence.” Last modified 2013.
Australian Taxation Office. “Tax-deductible gifts”. Australian Government. Last modified 2015. Accessed June 16, 2016.
Australian Securities and Investment Commission. “Registering not for profit or charitable organisations”. For Business.
Bourgeois, D. J. “Legal Structures for Charitable and Not-for-Profit Organizations”. Butterworth’s. Last modified 2002.
Breast Cancer Network Australia. “Annual Review 2014”. Last modified 2014. Accessed June 16, 2016.
Breast Cancer Network Australia. “Legal Information”. Last modified 2016. Accessed June 16, 2016.
Breast Cancer Network Australia. “Who are we?” Last modified 2016. Accessed June 16, 2016.
Community Tool Box. “Section 4: Understanding Nonprofit Status and Tax Exemption.” Chapter 43.
Commonwealth of Australia. “Why legal structure is important.” Legal Structure.
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations. “Understanding the Regulatory Framework.” You’re Organisation.
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