Five Ontario charities have received Voluntary Sector Reporting Awards in an annual competition organized by the CA-Queen's Centre for Governance and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and sponsored by PwC. Each winner received a prize of $5,000.

"The VSRA recognition program is based on the premise that it is better to provide examples of excellence in order to raise the bar on financial reporting transparency in the not-for-profit sector rather than making more rules," said Steve Salterio, director of the CA-Queen's Centre for Governance.

The awards, now in their fourth year, were open to registered charities that produce annual reports in Ontario. More than 100 charities were nominated. This year's winners include

National and international organizations headquartered in Ontario:

World Vision Canada, Mississauga, www.worldvision.ca

Ontario organizations with total revenues over $10 million:

Canadian Paraplegic Association Ontario, Toronto, www.cpaont.org

Ontario organizations with total revenues from over $1 million to $10 million (tie):

DeafBlind Ontario Services, Newmarket, www.deafblindontario.com and

United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, Kingston, www.unitedwaykfla.ca

Ontario organizations with total revenues up to $1 million:

Hospice King (Operating as Hospice King-Aurora), Richmond Hill, www.hospicekingaurora.ca

 "The organizations recognized by this year's Voluntary Sector Reporting Awards are to be commended for their straightforward and open financial reporting," noted Brian Leader, VP learning at the ICAO. "Beyond the people they serve and the charities' donors and volunteers, the not-for-profit sector as a whole benefits from their example."

Behind the awards

The goal of CA-Queen's Centre for Governance is to raise the bar on Canadian governance research with respect to transparency and financial accountability and convey implications of that research to academics, students and the public. Situated at Queen's School of Business, the Centre conducts basic and applied research on such issues as fraud prevention and detection and improving the quality of Canadian securities regulation.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario is the qualifying and regulatory body of Ontario's 35,000 Chartered Accountants and 5,000 CA students. Since 1879, the Institute has protected the public interest through the CA profession's internationally recognized standards of qualification and the enforcement of its rules of professional conduct.

The firms of the PwC network provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services. In Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and its related entities have more than 5,700 partners and staff in offices across the country.

For more information about the awards, visit www.annualreportaward.ca, http://www.pwc.com/ca/vsra; or www.icao.on.ca.