Annual Report Award
The submission of entries is straightforward and is done through the good governance awards website.
To enter, the organisation must meet the following entry requirements;
- The organisation must be an Irish (i.e. its registered head office is in the Republic of Ireland) not-for profit organisation with social purpose objective. It can be any one of the following organisation types;
- Incorporated organisation – Company Limited by Guarantee
- Registered Charity
- Un-incorporated organisation, – community/voluntary group or association
- Social Enterprise.
- An entry form must be completed here. A signed copy of the organisation’s most recent Annual/Directors’ Report and Financial Statements must be included.
- No other additional supporting documentation is required or will be assessed for the initial screening and shortlisting stage. Shortlisted listed organisations may be asked to supply additional information to assist the judges in their adjudications.
NB 1: Nonprofits that produce separate annual reports and financial statements should submit both documents otherwise, they risk losing marks for areas not addressed in the single document. For Categories 3-7, these must be combined into a single document.
NB 2: Please note that annual reports which apply FRS 102 Section 1A and/or include abridged accounts will not progress beyond Stage 1 of the judging process and are not eligible for inclusion on the short-list. Non-profits have a particular responsibility to demonstrate their transparency and accountability and only annual reports which include full, unabridged financial statements can be considered for the Good Governance Award.
Assessment Process
Judging Criteria
For a breakdown of the judging criteria, see here.
Stage 1: Screening of entries
All entries received within the entry cut-off date are assessed and scored by a panel of assessors who review and score the annual reports using a customised score sheet. See here for more details on the scoring criteria.
The assessors use only the submitted document(s) when scoring the entries. Nonprofits that produce separate annual reports and financial statements should submit both documents otherwise, they risk losing marks for areas not addressed in the single document.
Based on the marks awarded by the assessors, a long list for each entry category is developed and these entries move the next stage of the process. Entries for those organisations who are not included in the long list will be informed that their entry has not been successful in advancing to the next stage of the process.
Stage 2: Technical Assessment
A panel of accounting firms will assess the financial statements component of the annual reports to examine their compliance with relevant accounting standards and company law (where applicable).
Based on the technical assessments and the scores allocated in Stage 1 the shortlisted entries are determined and sent to the final stage. Those long listed entries that do not make the short list are informed.
Stage 3: Judging
A team of 3 judges are allocated to each of the seven entry categories and they will judge each of the shortlisted entries in their category and will select an overall winner. The judges will review, assess and score the annual reports on the same six areas used in Stage 1 but the focus of the assessment in this stage is on the quality, clarity and consistency of the story being told in the annual report. The judges will also use the scores and commentaries from Stage 1 and the technical assessments in Stage 2 in their deliberations to select the overall winner for each category.
A panel of judges with appropriate experience and expertise has been established to adjudicate shortlisted entries and select the winners. The awards will be adjudicated based on a desk based evaluation with a screening, shortlisting and judging process. It will be based on the information published in the annual reports & financial statements.
The judges for categories 6 and 7 will focus on how the organization has communicated in its annual report the impact it is making for its beneficiaries.
The 2023 Good Governance Awards will open for entries on June 1st. The categories will be:
- Category 1: For organisations with an annual turnover of less than €100,000
- Category 2: For organisations with an annual turnover of between €100,000 and €250.000.
- Category 3: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €250,000 and under €750,000.
- Category 4: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €750,000 and under €2.5 million.
- Category 5: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €2.5 million and under €10 million
- Category 6: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €10 million and under €50 million
- Category 7: For organisations with an annual turnover of over €50 million.
For more information, contact [email protected].
The Good Governance Awards
is an initiative that recognises and encourages adherence to good governance practice by Community, Voluntary and Charitable organisations in Ireland.
