Microfinance Consensus Guidelines: Disclosure Guidelines for Financial Reporting by Microfinance Institutions

July, 2003     Richard Rosenberg, Patricia Mwangi, Robert Peck Christen, Mohamed Nasr

The Disclosure Guidelines represent the consensus of CGAP's 28 member donors on MFI financial reporting requirements. The guidelines do not prescribe accounting policies or any particular format for financial reporting. Rather, they indicate the minimum information that should be included in MFI financial reports, regardless of how that information is presented. It reflects revisions based on field testing, which concluded in 2002. Donors, other investors, board members, and managers of microfinance institutions (MFIs) rely on the financial statements of an MFI when they assess its financial sustainability and loan portfolio. These disclosure guidelines specify information that should be included in MFI financial reporting.