Your UK charity’s annual report and financial statements.
The right expertise.
Welcome to CharityIE.org.
Guidance and consultation on your charity’s year-end financial statements, legal obligations for external accounts scrutiny and Charity Commission filing requirements.
Partner with an accountant and dedicated independent examiner with:
Extensive charity and not-for-profit sector experience.
Membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Expertise in the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice.
Expertise with the ‘receipts and payments’ framework, for eligible CIOs and trusts with less than £250,000 gross annual income.
More on charity independent examination
— and an example, illustrative approach that delivers value.
Clarity on your charity’s legal obligations — arrange a consultation with a sector-specialist accountant and examiner.
Five goals for your charity’s annual external scrutiny provision:
1. The assurance of specialism.
— Independent examination of your charity’s annual reports and accounts by an experienced accountant who specialises in the charity sector.
— The guarantee of a premium, specialist engagement, centred around the compliance and effectiveness of your unique charity’s operations, designed for your individual organisation.
— Added value and affordability, from a professional who genuinely cares about your purpose and impact.
2. Due comfort for your Board of Trustees.
— Rigorous inspection of financial records with substantiation to supporting evidence and corroboration of explanations to external sources.
— Comfort over the regularity and propriety of your charity’s day-to-day finances and records.
3. Your charity’s legal obligations met in respect of year-end accounts and external scrutiny.
— Full compliance with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (or the receipts and payments framework), UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and all applicable laws and guidance.
— The right level of scrutiny and full adherence to the Charity Commission’s guidance on the scope of IE, and the requirements of charity law.
4. Strong controls for your foundation.
— Recommendations for improvements and enhancements of your charity’s internal control environment detailed in a report presented to your Trustees and Management.
— Best practice sharing around governance and internal controls from extensive prior sector financial scrutiny experience.
5. An expert’s ongoing partnership with your charity.
— Regular meetings and proactive communication on emerging matters of significance.
— Sector insights and technical updates, as part of a year-round relationship.
Read more.
— The key elements of effective annual financial scrutiny.
— Testing and enquiry your charity should expect from an independent examiner.
Professional partnership that’s right for your unique organisation:
Value for your charitable cause.
With charities feeling the strain of higher operating costs and difficulty securing the fundamental resources they need to deliver impact in 2024, it is crucial - as ever - that governance costs in areas such as accounting and scrutiny, reflect excellent value.
Accountants and other professionals with due empathy for your mission, should be constructing quotes for services on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the size and complexity of your organisation and the level of available reserves you have to cover core costs.
Your charity should expect to pay an annual fee for IE of around £400 to £4,000 + VAT, dependent on a variety of factors. (Accounts preparation services may be billed for separately).
Compliance with Charity Commission filing requirements.
Your charity should access the expertise it needs to prepare year-end financial statements compliant with:
— UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles;
— The Charities Statements of Recommended Practice (or the receipts and payments framework for smaller non-company charities);
— Applicable laws and regulations.
A disclosure checklist review should be used to achieve full compliance with all relevant guidance, laws and regulations throughout your charity’s annual statutory filing.
Impact for your trustees’ annual report.
Although principally a compliance requirement, your charity’s trustees’ annual report is an excellent opportunity to showcase recent successes, great outcomes for beneficiaries and social impact.
Ensure yours duly demonstrates your organisation’s accomplishments and signals a high level of compliance and good governance to your partners — expect to receive assurance from your examiner of the quality of your Trustees’ Annual Report, or assistance in achieving full compliance.
Unsure on your charity’s accounts and scrutiny obligations?
Explore introductory guidance articles.
Is your charity’s annual income £25,000?
Then it most likely needs a form of external scrutiny over its annual accounts filed with the Charity Commission.
This can be in the form of an independent examination unless it is subject to full statutory audit, a larger and more expensive exercise — usually when annual income is over £1m (or £250,000 in conjunction with gross assets of £3.26m) or an audit requirement exists for another reason.
Read more — an introduction to accounts scrutiny requirements for UK charities:
Does your charity have to prepare full Charities SORP compliant year-end accounts, or is there a simpler approach?
If your non-company charity (for example, your CIO or trust) has gross annual income of less than £250,000 — the receipts and payments basis of preparation of year-end accounts may be a viable option, as an alternative to preparing accounts on the accruals basis (which must comply with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice).
A simpler approach, receipts and payments accounts contain far less disclosure and are much easier to compile, than accruals accounts.
The majority of other mainstream UK charities follow the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice, unless there is a better-suited, permissible other approach and guidance — for instance for specific sub-sectors (education or housing for example).
Read more on Charity Commission filing requirements — as well as the difference between accruals and receipts and payments accounts.
Seeking assurance in a particular area of risk or activity of your organisation?
Or need to fulfil a donor or other body’s request for an assurance conclusion in respect of an area of your finances or a project?
Read more on bespoke scrutiny consulting, and how a review undertaken by a third sector financial assurance professional could add resilience to your mission.
Speak to a specialist charity independent examiner.
Secure resilience for your foundation, through robust and compliant annual scrutiny.