Can NGOs Finally Speak One Financial Language?”

Across the NGO sector, one long-standing challenge has been consistency. Different organizations reporting in different ways, making it hard for donors to compare impact, track funding, and build trust.

But that may be changing. A new global framework—the International Not-for-Profit Accounting Standards—is now on the table, aiming to bring order, transparency, and alignment across the sector.

So what does this actually mean for NGOs here in Uganda? And why is this conversation happening now?”

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

For years, NGOs have been doing the work by speaking different financial languages. Now a new global standard could change everything. From over 2,376 cities and 178 countries, we bring it a good morning to Africa broadcast. Good morning Africa. Welcome to Budget Post on Everything Business in Africa. I am with the DOM for more followers on Twitter, Advocative Financial News, and you can find me after the DOM. Across the NGO sector, one longstanding challenge has been consistency. Different organizations reporting in different ways, making it hard for donors to compare impact, check funding, and build trust. But that may be changing. A new global framework, the international not-for-profit accounting standards in past, is now on the table, aiming to bring order, transparency, and alignment across the sector. What does this actually mean for NGOs and why is this conversation happening now? Moses Steven Mwender, audit partner at BDO, joins us to explain this new accounting system.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Why is this conversation pertinent now? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

So I want to be categorically clear that we are not per se saying that things have not been done the right way in the past. All we are saying is that it's been the wild, wild west. Because if you look at profit-making entities, they had international standards, meaning anyone producing financial reports in Uganda could easily compare with any other country, whether in Europe, EGC, because it's the same rules and principles that apply. Now, closer to the NGO space, you'll find an NGO in Uganda using a certain framework, maybe their organization's accounting policies. Another NGO elsewhere is reporting under a different framework. So if you were, for instance, to put the NGOs in a room and they're competing for the same pool of funds, even the donors, the development agencies would struggle to, you know, know who needs to be prioritized. And that is simply because it is difficult to, you know, have some congruence and um alignment across board. So what has happened, and that's been a recurring issue because if you have the big international players, um, donor-funded agencies, governments in some cases, they all come with their different sets of rules, some of them more stringent, some different from the other, and the likes. Um, so what has happened is that um problem has been recognized world over, and they're trying to put some sanity into it. So it's been a pipeline in the working, developing what we call the INPASS, that's the international not-for-profit accounting standard. That is a set of rules which, if applied, um, will be uniform across board, and that helps really on so many metrics and levels because then even the donors um have some level of trust and confidence that what is being reported is based on the same rules. So this conversation is timely because the standards were the standard for non for profits was recently released and it became effective um October 2025. But what is true and what is important to mention is that it recognizes the jurisdictional um adoption principles, and what that means is that the regulators of accounting practice in the different countries uh are the ones who are able to dictate um when that standard becomes effective. So, what we have done right now is just scratching the surface, getting all stakeholders in the room to let them know that there's this change on the horizon, and you can see with ICPA, the regulator in Uganda, they have promised to, you know, share a roadmap that will show when all NGOs have to jump on this bandwagon.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Okay. Uh what does streamlining the NGO sector mean? Okay, let me ask it from the other way.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

From the audit perspective or from the audit world, yeah, what do you bring to this new change, to the uh NGO sector? What does this mean for you?

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Um, for starters again, I I just want to make it clear that um these are not standards that uh we the auditors have introduced. Um, all a number of stakeholders did get together to ensure that these are the pertinent issues facing the the NGO sector and they have put their heads together to see how to you know forge a way forward and hence where we are right now. Um so we as auditors we come in to um advise clients um or help with what we call the adoption. Because usually, let me walk you back a bit. Uh, when a standard is released and it becomes effective, then there's what we call an adoption period. That is uh a period and a window that the organizations have to now align their accounting policies, their accounting systems, because there's something we call a chart of accounts, which is in Lehman's term, coding of transactions and how they're posted. If it's grant income, where does that go? Some of the governance frameworks may need to change because you'll find issues like them having to recruit um suitably qualified personnel to ensure that you know they can keep up with the adoption. So we as auditors help clients walk that journey, and then ultimately, because uh responsibility is to the stakeholders, uh we ensure and uh comment on whether or not they have complied with the expectations. But overall, take it away from the auditors. What I see this standard actually doing is the overall cost of compliance is going to go down because initially, um, like Samantha said, um, the most um the period where the hardest work is going to be is just initially adopting, understanding what has changed and how do you align with that. But subsequently, everyone will know what needs to be done, and it's going to be you know a routine process that you can factor into your period and closing your reports to the different donors, will at least follow some semblance of structure, and overall the costs of compliance, uh, ensuring that you have reports that meet that standard are going to go down. So we see that the benefits are immense. Um, ultimately, for us as auditors, because it's rule based, then that means we can actually apply the yardstick across board. And I think ultimately that helps improve accountability, public trust, because then if someone sees what the measurement and recognition bases are, which is really what the standard is. Standard is how do you recognize a transaction from when the transaction was initiated up to the way it is presented in the financial statements. So if the rules for that, um everyone knows these rules. Anyone can at any one point check that you have complied with these rules. And what we as auditors do is actually do that and then comment that yes, you have complied or no, you haven't. But anyone, including the stakeholders, donors, can actually do that. So overall, I think it's a positive, and uh, we just encourage all NGOs in this space to embrace that, not only in Uganda, worldover, because when we have congruence all across board, then that's when we see the benefits of having one unique standard.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

And a quick look at the market. The National Bank of Morocco left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.25% during its regular meeting on March 17th, 2026, marking the fourth consecutive hold. Policymakers appointed to robust economic activity, contained uh inflation, and heightened global uncertainty as key factors behind their decision. The economy is estimated to have expanded by 4.8% in 2025, with growth expected to accelerate to 5.6% in 2026, mainly due to an un to an unanticipated uh pickup in agriculture output before easing to 3.5% in 2027. Meanwhile, Morocco has recorded amount of inflation on the sentence of November, with the prices falling 0.8% year on year, in January supported by strong agriculture output and lower fuel prices. But with temporary support fading and oil prices projected to increase, inflation is likely to rise gradually, remaining moderated 0.8% in 2026 and 1.4 in 2027. And a quick review of the other stories Nigerian artists generated more than 60 billion naira in revenue from music streaming on Spotify in 2025. This is according to the platform's latest loud and clear annual report released in Lagos. The streaming company noted that earnings from Spotify alone have grown significantly as Nigerian music continues to gain global traction. Spotify said revenue generated by Nigerian artists on the platform has increased by more than 140% over the past two years. In total, more than 60 million playlists of featuring Nigerian artists were created on Spotify during the year. The report also noted that genres with the fastest growing on Spotify in Nigeria over the past five years include a pop, urban, alternative pop, anime, emo, and drill. The report highlighted a strong engagement with Nigerian music on the streaming platform. In 2025, Nigerian artists recorded about 30.3 billion streams and 1.6 billion listening hours on Support Five. Their music was also discovered by first-time listeners more than 1.3 billion times, representing a 26% increase compared with 2024. Thank you for always waking up with us. Good morning, Africa of the product of the K Financial. If you have suggestions, just want to check out more stories because of the website, at the Kfinancial.com. Don't forget to subscribe. You can find us on all social media platforms, LK Financial, and you can find me at the end of the video.