Resumo: The growing importance of not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) in nowadays developed economies has led to an increasing relevance of accountability as a central focus attending their stakeholders demand for financial and non-financial information, This study aims to present a proposal for accounting rules to be applied at the Portuguese third sector’s entities, considered as a best practice for the NPOS’ reporting, supported in a comparative study of not-for profit organisations accounting standards in Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it was assessed the conformity level between seventeen Portuguese foundations’ practices and the best practice proposed. The findings point out to an average level of compliance and to non accomplishment with the specific requirements of NPOs financial information, since those entities financial statements are mostly based on business accounting rules.
