There has been increasing amounts of sponsorship funds provided to sports. The sponsorship provides
crucial amounts of funds for some sports organisations that are not‐for‐profit. Despite the increasing
accountability movement, little research has investigated accountability of sport sponsorship relationships.
This paper constructs a framework of an accountability continuum that ranges from profit organisations
that have economic responsibilities to charities as a form of not for profit organisation that receive
donations and have philanthropic responsibilities. Within the extremes of the continuum includes other
not for profit organisations and public benefit entities of mixed expectations and responsibilities. Sport
sponsorship relationships include not for profit entities that receive funds from profit organisations, thus
span the accountability continuum. The aim of this study was to identify the practices of sport sponsorship
to determine the existence of the accountability framework. This current study investigated the
characteristics of sport sponsorship reporting using 60 semistructured interviews of both sponsors and
sponsorees. A range of diverging responses were found with the frequency and content of reporting
consistent with accountability theory of reporting expectations and responsibilities.