The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission stripped the charity status from 22 organisations in the most recent financial year, new data shows.

The number of charities that were revoked after investigations in 2017-18 made up one-third of all charities that have lost registration following compliance audits since the commission began in December 2012.

A spokeswoman for the commission said 108 investigations into charities were carried out in the last financial year.

"Due to secrecy provisions, we are unable to confirm the reasons for a charity's deregistration," the spokeswoman said.

"However, revocation of charity status is the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission's most severe enforcement power and strips an organisation of its entitlement to access Commonwealth charity tax concessions."

It comes as the number of complaints about Australian charities shot up by almost 50 per cent in 2017-18 compared to the previous year.

The charity watchdog received 1869 complaints, compared to 1278 during 2016-17.

"The most common categories of concern related to fraud and financial mismanagement, including poor financial controls, inadequate due-diligence of employees and partners and a failure by the charity's responsible persons to act in the best interest of the charity," the spokeswoman said.

"The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission takes all concerns seriously, and where there is evidence of misconduct, we will investigate."

There have been more than 5400 charity complaints since the commission was established, with 15,000 charities being removed from the charity register.

While revoking the status of a charity is the most severe penalty the commission can enforce, other compliance actions can be enforced, such as warnings and suspending or removing board members.

Several high-profile charities were subjected to enforceable undertakings by the commission, including the NSW branch of the RSL, after charity funds were misused by former state president Don Rowe.

Mr Rowe spent $465,000 on his RSL credit card over a six-year period, with around $150,000 not accounted for with receipts.

The charity watchdog took compliance action against the branch in May 2018, after several governance issues were found.

The branch committed to 15 measures around governance, transparency and financial issues.

"The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission has a risk-based compliance approach, and recognises that most registered charities are set up for charitable purposes and are run by dedicated, capable people who make a valuable contribution to the community," the commission spokeswoman said.

During 2017-18, the commission analysed information statements of more than 36,000 Australian charities, looking for reporting errors.

As a result, $20 billion in revenue and a further $9 billion in assets were corrected.

Fraud and financial mismanagement, terrorism and political activities were a major focus for the commission during the last financial year.

State and territory-based charity deregistration figures are expected to be released by the commission early next year.