Interesting news from the Charity Commission (CC)

In the last month the CC have listed the following interesting news articles:

• 2 new SORPs issued for accounting periods beginning 1 January 2015 (16 July) - one SORP for smaller charities using the FRSSE and the other SORP for other charities using FRS 102 either due to their size or because they want to. Please see Mercia's recent blog on the two new charities SORPs.

• A charity was found to be in breach of not reporting a serious incident (21 July) - the CC reinforced that Trustees should report serious incidents to the as soon as they suspect them, even if the incident has already been reported to the police or another regulator. Although not specifically mentioning whether an auditor / independent examiner reported the incident - there is also a clear reminder here of our legal duties too!

• Class inquiry update (4 August) - the CC published inquiry reports into 12 of the charities which were under investigation as a result of double defaulting on their annual accounts and return. 20 charities currently remain in the class inquiry. The first phase of the inquiry began in September last year and focussed on charities with income of over £500,000 and in November last year, they considered charities with income of between £250,000 and £500,000. Failure to submit annual documents when required to the CCis a criminal offence and amounts to mismanagement and/or misconduct in the administration of a charity. This highlights the importance of charities filing their accounts on time and the CC's message that there is no valid reason for late accounts. This message must be reinforced to all charity clients!

• Charities accounts review examines responses to net current liabilities (6 August) - CC is reminding charities with net current liabilities that they need to explain how they are addressing the associated risks in the Trustees Report. Of recently reviewed accounts, 42 out of 98 failed to discuss the issue in the Trustees Report. Without this disclosure funders and stakeholders are not able to understand how the risk is managed and thus could deter further funds being made available.