Paul Tatum (Bury St Edmunds)

We are fortunate to have many worthy charities in and around our area all making a huge contribution to our community. When it comes to the fraudsters charities do not have any exemption, in fact quite the opposite, they are often seen as a soft touch.  The Charity Commission has just published ‘Tackling Charity Fraud’…

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  The current system for processing customs declarations for imports and exports with non-EU countries is changing. The current CHIEF system is to be replaced with the new CDS (Customs Declaration Service) to be phased in from August 2018 into early 2019.   The old system is nearly 25 years old and has become inflexible…

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  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…

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  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…

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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…

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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…

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Academy reporting – Accounts Return The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has now published the 2012/13 Academy Accounts Return with a revised submission date of 31 January 2014. Audited financial statements still require submission to the EFA by 31 December 2013. The accounts return is used to support a number of Treasury and departmental requirements, including…

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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…

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New Charity Commission Guidance: Charities, trading subsidiaries and gift aid. The Charity Commission has withdrawn guidance from its website in connection with Gift Aid beyond distributable profits from charity trading arms to the parent charity. Some charities own subsidiary trading companies through which they carry out trading activities for a profit. The subsidiary may donate…

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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…

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