The Charity Annual General Meeting: is it an Accountability Mechanism?

Abstract

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) has long been considered a requisite component of democratic organisations. In the broadest sense, all types of co-operative organisations utilise AGMs as an accountability mechanism. This research explores literature relating to accountability and meetings in order to locate specific processes that are relevant to the study of AGMs. It also considers the manner in which the AGM has been used historically to fulfil accountability demands. These investigations are synthesized into instruments designed to assess individual AGMs in the charity sector. Accountability in this sector is frequently less formal than in profit-oriented entities and therefore AGMs are more likely to present one of the few formal occasions to observe accountability processes. This pilot study found that AGMs which adhered to organisational regulations, emphasised unique organisational aspects and were transparent, facilitated accountability. This thesis also makes recommendations for additional research to further test the research instruments in AGMs held at organisations other than charities, and also to explore further the underlying concepts of the sensemaking attribute of accountability.