Latest Not For Profit

Charities to promote diversity

  In November 2017, the government posted research into awareness and effectiveness of trusteeship in England and Wales. This recommended that charities should do more to promote diversity on their boards. This would involve encouraging applications from women, young people and people from ethnic minority and socially diverse backgrounds. Some of the key findings of…

Charity annual returns due

  Charities with the financial year end of 31 March 2017 must submit their annual return by 31 January 2018, 10 months after the year end. What you need to submit varies based on whether it is an un-incorporated organisation or a charitable company. It also varies based on income of the charity – requiring…

Charity Accounts: New Independent Examination Rules

  For many years now, many mid-sized UK charities have been required to subject their annual statutory accounts to independent examination. For such charities, with income within the range of £25,000 to £1m and gross assets of less than £3.26m, an independent examination is a lighter touch of independent scrutiny than a full audit. As…

Charities bound by new Fundraising Preference Service

  A new service is now available for individuals who want to limit the contact they receive from charities. The Fundraising Preference Service (FPS) should give individuals greater control over how and when charities can contact them. The FPS, which launched on 6 July, allows individuals to select charities that they no longer want to…

Charity accounts do not meet the required standard

A significant number of charity accounts fail to explain how the charity is meeting its objectives, while many do not meet basic standards for users, particularly in the very smallest charities, according to research from the Charity Commission.   Of a recent sample, 54% of charities did not meet the public benefit reporting requirement. Some…

Charities

The governance and accounting requirements of a registered charity are quite complex. You need a charity accountant who has specialist knowledge of the Charities Act 2011, the related charities SORP and of the specific tax rules that are relevant. We have established a specialist team of charity accounting expertise, who currently act for registered charities in…

Not For Profit Funding

Community Business Fund Grants: Apply now. If you operate a community business or a trading not for profits organisation then there are grants being awarded between £50k – £300k to support and develop these activities.  Applications for grant funding opens on 26h April 2016 and you can register your interest from 5th April 2016. See the…

VAT Tribunal

Charities VAT: investment management fees are now reclaimable. A tribunal finding in favour of Cambridge University Endowment Fund could lead to financial benefit for a host of charities who have previously been unable to reclaim input VAT on ‘non-business’ investment fund fees. The Cambridge University Endowment Fund argued that it could reclaim some of the VAT…

Charity Audit Legislation

Charities: Changes to audit exemption thresholds. Changes to charity audit thresholds came into force on 31 March 2015, aimed at reducing the regulatory burden for charities. They include increasing the basic audit threshold from £500,000 to £1 million, meaning less charities will be required to subject their accounts to a statutory audit. Those charities can instead…

Charity Accounting Disclosures

New Charities SORP Published The new Charities SORP was published today and will apply to the accounts of charities for financial years commencing on or after 1 January 2015. There are two versions, one based on Financial Reporting Standard FRS 102 (new UK GAAP which replaces all earlier financial reporting standards) and a second for…