Updated November 2025

When preparing your Performance Report (Tier 3 and Tier 4) or Financial Report (Tier 1 and Tier 2), it’s important to determine whether your charity has a control relationship with any other organisations.

Control relationships affect your reporting requirements and determine which reporting tier applies to your charity.

This page explains:

• What a control relationship is
• What consolidated financial statements are
• How control affects your reporting obligations

Note: If your charity is part of a group registration with other charities, different rules apply. Visit Charities Services | Group registration for more information.

What is a control relationship?

Your charity may have a control relationship with another organisation if it has the power to direct that organisation, influence its decisions and benefit from its activities.

Signs of power

Your charity has the ability to:

• overrule or change decisions made by the other organisation’s governing body
• appoint or remove members of that governing body
• set or change financial or operational policies
• wind up (close) the organisation.

Signs of influence

The charity can:

• direct the organisation’s work to align with its own goals
• influences asset sales to receive proceeds
• allocates funding or resources to advance its own objectives.

Signs of benefit

The charity benefits by:

• receiving organisation's profits or being responsible for its losses
• providing or receiving goods or services that help the organisation achieve its mission
• having access to specialised knowledge, staff or resources.

What are consolidated financial statements?

Consolidated financial statements combine the financial and non-financial information of your charity and the organisations it controls. They include:

• assets, liabilities, equity, income, expenses, and cash flows
• service performance information (e.g. purpose, outcomes, outputs).

How control affects your reporting obligations

Tier 4 charity

If your Tier 4 charity controls other organisations and your combined spending is:

Under $140,000

• You do not need to prepare consolidated financial statements. However, you should include a note in the ‘Related Party Transaction Notes’ section of your Performance Report explaining the control relationship.
• Any organisation you control must still submit its own Performance Report and Annual Return Form.

Over $140,000

• You must report as a Tier 3 charity

Tier 3 charity

If your Tier 3 charity controls other organisations:

• You must prepare consolidated financial statements using the Tier 2 Standard (PBE IPSAS 35)
• Only the consolidated part of your report needs to follow the Tier 2 Standard.
• Any organisation you control must still submit its own Performance Report and Annual Return Form.

Relevant accounting standards