Using empirical evidence from the Australian nonprofit sector, this research monograph offers insight into how nonprofit and voluntary organisations control and manage the costs of their operation and projects through cost accounting and cost management tools.

In recent years, nonprofit and voluntary organisations have faced challenges and unanticipated pressures as a result of increased competition for funding, technological advancements, the need to comply with government regulations, and increased social and community expectations regarding greater accountability and transparency. Cost accounting and cost management tools are considered to be a means of providing adequate and quality information for management control for all sorts of organisations, including nonprofits. Using empirical evidence from the Australian nonprofit sector, this research monograph offers insight into how nonprofit and voluntary organisations control and manage the costs of their operations and projects through cost accounting and cost management tools. The book will be of benefit to a range of stakeholders in the sector, including financial and management accountants, professional accounting bodies, the government, policymakers, academics, consultants and operational managers.

'Focussing on today's socially and economically important non-profit and voluntary sector, this invaluable research text addresses its crucial cost management practices. The authors deliver important intelligence concerning strategic management and innovation for meeting organizational performance demands in a resource constrained and competitive environment.' - Distinguished Professor Lee Parker, RMIT University, Melbourne and Glasgow University, Scotland 'Accounting in not-for-profit and voluntary organisations, an increasingly important sector, has been neglected, despite effective cost management and external accountability being vital to their operations. This monograph reviews work and presents research in this field that will be useful to practitioners and academics alike.' - Trevor Hopper, Professor Emeritus of Management Accounting, University of Sussex, UK 'The business of not-for-profits is becoming more complex and sustainability more challenging. This book is important because the sector needs to consider its cost base and financial sustainability in a world where demand for support and services is ever increasing, and resources are ever diminishing in real terms. A very important contribution indeed from Zahirul Hoque and Tarek Rana.' - Professor David Gilchrist, University of Western Australia 'In an era where the non-profit sector is increasingly under pressure to become more market-efficient, the magnitude of the necessity to better manage their costs is exacerbated. With much of the focus of historical research focused on profit-maximising entities, this book is a welcome addition to the literature to help guide and enlighten non-profit management to improved cost management practices.' - Dr Nicodemo La Rosa, CA, CPA, Chief Financial Officer, arbias Ltd, www.arbias.org.au