The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales
If you need to know when you must prepare an annual report and accounts, or the financial thresholds for having the accounts externally audited or examined, or the filing of your report and accounts with the Charity Commission, please refer to:
1. Charity Reporting and Accounting: The essentials April 2009 (CC15b). This covers financial years ending on or after 1 April 2009.
2. Charity Reporting and Accounting: The essentials April 2008 (CC15a). This covers financial years starting on or after 1st April 2008 and ending before1 April 2009.
3. Charity Reporting and Accounting: The essentials (CC15). This covers financial years starting between 27th February 2007 and 31st March 2008.
Help and advice for small charitiesOver 85% of registered charities count as small and are able to take advantage of simpler reporting and accounting arrangements. The Commission produces helpful templates for you to use and offers worked examples and guidance. Please see our guidance for small charities to understand your options for preparing accounts and the role of the SORP. Receipts and payments accountsIf your charity has a gross income of £250,000 or less and is not a company then you may be able to prepare receipts and payments accounts that provide a simple and flexible basis for accounts preparation. For financial years ending on or after 1 April 2009, a non-company charity may opt to prepare its accounts on a receipts and payments basis where its gross income is £250,000 or less. For financial years ending before 1 April 2009 this income threshold is set at the lower level of £100,000. See Guidance for non-company charities with an income £250,000 or less for further information. The Commission publishes guidance to assist trustees and those preparing charity accounts including a Receipts and Payments Accounts Pack for those choosing to prepare their accounts on this simpler basis. Accruals accounts for small non-company charitiesIf your charity is below the audit threshold and prepares accruals accounts then the SORP applies but there are a number of concessions for smaller charities explained in Appendix 5 of the SORP (new link). Smaller charities can also adapt and use our Accruals Accounts Pack when preparing their accounts. |
If you would like to download or find out more about the SORP or if your charity is a company registered under the Companies Acts see The SORP and guidance for larger non-company and company charities.
To assist charities preparing their Annual Reports in line with the new public benefit reporting requirements we are updating certain of our existing examples Annual Reports and adding new examples as sub sector guidance is published.
Those who wish to see how the updated Annual Reports address the principles and factors that we shall use when assessing public benefit should refer to our public benefit pages.
The Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities is developed by the Charity Commission and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in collaboration with the SORP Committee. The SORP applies to the minority of charities preparing accounts on an accruals basis and does not apply to charities preparing accounts on a receipts and payments basis. If you would like to learn about who is serving on that Committee or learn more about the issues that the Committee has been considering, including the research programme being undertaken, please see the SORP Committee Latest page.
For additional help and support, see the further advice section of 'Help with preparing Charity Accounts and Reports'.