Charities

The administration, governance and accounting requirements of a registered charity became a lot more prescribed with the introduction of the Charities Acts 1992, 1996 and the related SORP(s). Since then, a succession of subordinate legislation has further complicated the legal responsibilities of Trustees and the tax administration of these bodies.

We have established a specialist team of charity accounting expertise, who currently act for registered charities in all sectors:

• Registered Social Landlords,
• Education,
• Head office and branches of national charities, fund raising for wide purposes,
• The Theatre,
• Religeous organisations,
• Medical Charities,
• Charities which own and maintain a protected asset,
• and numerous good cause small local charities, set up for a specific purpose.

We find that the services that these charity clients are most interested in are:

• Advice on operating structure:
  • Trust,
  • Companies Act charity, registered by guarantee,
  • Industrial and Providend Society Company.
• Preparing statutory accounts, including accounting technical advice in accordance with the SORP,
• Different levels of assurance on these accounts:
  • None,
  • Independent Examination,
  • Audit (undertaken cost efficiently), including production of a helpful Management Letter,
• Payroll services,
• Tax reclaim forms for Gift Aid and Investment income,
• Making ourselves available for general support services, including attending your AGM, if required.
• Advice on statutory and financial governance issues.

Instruct us to prepare your charity's statutory accounts and we shall unburden you of the worry of correctly complying with the SORP. We shall also ensure that these accounts are prepared in sufficient time to be filed with the relevant Authorities by the statutory filing deadlines and for your AGM. When preparing these accounts, we shall be mindful of your beneficial tax status and we shall actively seek proven techniques to enable you to reclaim further tax.

Practical Examples of our Charity Accounting Expertise

Advising on the most appropriate and VAT-efficient partial exemption scheme that should be used. Preparing specialist audit reports on how a registered charity has expended and accounted for a grant award.

Setting up a trading subsidiary to preserve the beneficial tax status of the parent charity. Claiming mandatory and discretionary reliefs against your business rates.