Charity bookkeeping and internal
control systems
The SORP lays down stringent requirements for reporting
information about charities in the published accounts.
The Charity Commission also require specific systems
of internal control to be applied by charities (see
booklet CC8 at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc8.asp).
Many donors have specific requirements about monitoring
performance
This poses two challenges for trustees, charity administrators
and accountants in practice.
The obvious one is how do you prepare a set of accounts
that discloses all the information stipulated. Less
obvious, perhaps, is how do you efficiently and accurately
record the detail of analysis that is required by
the SORP, or by donors, so that when the accounts
are prepared they show the correct information at
the lowest possible cost in management time and accountancy
fees.
Our VT Charity
templates can help you to produce SORP compliant
accounts, and Sage Line
50 software can also assist.
However, software tools require a deep understanding
of the concepts of charity accounting before they
can be usefully employed. Our training
videos and CDs, and our
courses and seminars can help with this.
However, as a part of our suite of services, we can
offer a consultancy approach.
With the new emphasis on analysing performance by
activities rather than by nominal headings, many existing
accounting and reporting systems will struggle to
meet the requirements, and an in depth review will
often be necessary. The sooner such a review is undertaken
the better, because the costs of analysing historical
information to meet the SORP disclosure requirements
might be high, if the systems are not put in place
as soon as possible.
By visiting a charity, and understanding what it
is attempting to achieve, and how it is operating,
we can design an overall system of internal control.
Such a system might involve controls over cash income,
system to monitor trading income , systems of delegation
and so on, and would be tailored to the needs of the
particular charity. Even a very small charity could
benefit from such an exercise, and the costs will
always be proportionate to the size of the charity.
Peter Brown & Co can also carry out regular internal
audit checks and one off investigations.
As members of the AVN network of accountants, we
are a part of the National Campaign (http://www.thenationalcampaign.co.uk),
whereby members have committed themselves to giving
away £20 million pounds worth of professional
services to UK business and the voluntary sector,
in the form of discounted professional services. Many
services that we provide will reflect a discount representing
our contribution to the National Campaign.
As with all our services, our fees are highly competitive.
Our offices are set in a rural location, and therefore
we have low premises overheads. This means that we
are able to offer the highest quality services, very
often at the lowest price.
For further information, please email info@sorpaid.com
or complete our Enquiry
Form
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