非営利組織会計の実証研究の展開 : 先行研究サーベイを中心に

1 はじめに : 非営利組織は、医療、福祉、教育分野などの重要性の高いサービス提供を担っており、その経済規模や社会的な役割は今後ますます増大することが予想される。これらの組織は、サービスの信頼性を確保するために、さまざまな規制を受けている。なかでも会計基準による規制は、政府財政が緊縮され、資源が限られる今後の先進諸国において、非営利組織の発展に多大に貢献することが社会から期待されている。そのため、非営利組織を対象とした会計研究は今後いっそう重要となるであろう。ここで非営利組織の拡大がとくに顕著な米国に焦点をあてると、1960年代半ばまで会計基準がどうあるべきか、という会計研究が盛んであったが、現在では、非営利組織会計の実証研究に会計研究者は関心を向けている(Parsons, 2003, pp.107-108)。このような実証研究で得られた証拠の蓄積は、わが国の非営利組織会計にも、重要なインプリケーションをもたらすであろう。……

The objective of this research is to clarify the state of empirical research on financial accounting at not-for-profit organizations in the United States. Specifically, the author has surveyed the following three areas; the actual conditions of accounting research at not-for-profit organizations in the United States, the theoretical background of accounting for not-for-profit organizations, and the current empirical research on accounting at not-for-profit organizations. The results of these surveys revealed the following. First, it was discovered that there is room for further research on financial accounting at not-for-profit organizations in the top journals in the United States, although there has been an increase in empirical research on accounting for not-for-profit organizations since 2000. Second, better accounting at not-for-profit organizations can contribute to society through the provision of more efficient services and better checks on moral hazards. Additionally, the results indicated that accounting at not-for-profit organizations supports decision-making and appropriate contracts in the same way it does at profit-making enterprises. Third, it was clarified that within the empirical research on accounting at not-for-profit organizations, researchers are verifying its function in support of decision-making and appropriate contracts. The former, verification of its support in decision-making, is presented through evidence of two hypotheses: the efficiency hypothesis and the financial-soundness hypothesis based on an assumption of whether or not it is useful in the decisionmaking process of potential donors. The latter, verification of its support of contracts, is also presented through evidence in two hypotheses: the fund-raising hypothesis and the remuneration hypothesis, which assume the existence of motives in the discretionary adjustment of behavior at not-for-profit organizations. The development of further empirical research on accounting at not-forprofit organizations presented in this paper will provide valuable suggestions for the future by offering basic data for theory construction and verification.