We've received reports of a number of frauds that were facilitated in part by lax procedures during the pandemic.

Please remind your clients that dual signatory electronic banking is an important safeguard in interrupting scammers.

That scammers may well take advantage of the disruption to processes and the extensive advice emails, that are likely to occur in January.

The Charity Commission has updated its advice on Managing Finances including:

1. Protect your charity’s money
2. Know your charity’s financial position
3. Keep accurate financial records
4. Manage expenses and payments to trustees
5. Deal with financial problems quickly

It is also important that charities not be allowed to 'drift' in their (often generous) response to the pandemic. The Charity Commission has updated it's advice on Purpose and Rules.

In addition to our regular IE workshops, which can be found on the events page, we have a series of on-line webinars across the year.

Webinars

Format: short talk + Q&A, one hour.

16 Feb-2021 Zakat, Islamic Charities and Accounting Transparency

21-Feb-2021     Receipts and Payment

18-Mar-2121    Taking on a New Client

19-April 2021   Serious Incident Reporting

10-May-2021    How to Read a Set of Accounts for IE

29-June-2021  Fraud and Independent Examination

• Charity Finance delivered a report in September assessing how well charities did in lockdown. The key take aways;

• ·       9 out of 10 charities expect their ability to deliver their objectives impaired;
• ·       Charities face a possible £10bn funding gap in the next six months with smaller charities and cultural places/event based charities suffering disproportionately;
• ·       Charities with incomes of less than £500,000 were more likely to expect reductions of over 50% they are less likely to have been able to take advantage of furlough schemes or to be eligible for funding grants, or to have substantial reserves.
• ·       Larger charities have been able to draw down on invested income and have furloughed up to 90% of their payroll; but those dependent on local authority grants and contracts are faced also with the threat of local authority cuts: 5-8 local authorities are threatening bankruptcy, and none have committed to the increase in last year’s National Living Wage.
• ·       Furlough has caused issues for operational finance: management information isn’t up to date, transactions haven’t been posted for months, and budget holders are often lacking in information and direction. In particular, costs of overheads need to be recalculated as they may need to be re-costed for services to break even at this time.
• ·       Grant making charities are receiving ever greater calls on their resources: this will include fraudulent claims: ensure that due diligence mechanisms are in place, check that there has been a strategic review prior to the application which has a clear way forward in the crisis and does not simply extend pre-Covid planning; ensure that furloughed staff are not being used to deliver outcomes and are not part of a claim against a pre-Covid awarded grant. Some of your grants may be set up to be drawn down cash: ensure that this is available and that you are monitoring any increase in demand that might shorten the period for which funding was intended.

• 
  

• Charity Finance’s October included a report on transparent reporting. This remains poor, with particular concerns around:
  

• ·       While risk registers were in place, several charities did not discuss how risks were to be mitigated.
• ·       Reserves: most charities surveyed had a brief reserves policy which quoted working capital and income risks as a reason to hold reserves; although most explained the reason for their target reserves, many did not explain how they intended to achieve this target.

Manchester Community Central (Macc) is Manchester's equivalent to BVSC. They have recently published a fascinating report, entitled No Going Back, in which Chief Executives from 22 VCS organisations reflect on their experiences of C-19.  Read the Report.

ACIE Training in 2020-2021

Go to: https://www.acie.org.uk/events for all bookings.

Building your Independent Examination skills.

This course uses a case study, practical exercises and brings in your experience covering key areas of concern in Independent Examination:

·       Materiality and risk

·       Adequacy of records

·       Vouching & analytical review

·       Qualification of reports

We will look at the above areas of concern alongside the ACIE workbook so you understand how this resource can support your IE practice.  We are aiming to build confidence in your practice.

Friday, 13 November 20

Thursday, 21 January 21

Wednesday, 17 March 21

Thursday, 15 July 21

Wednesday, 9 December 20

Tuesday, 15 December 20

Tuesday, 9 February 21

Friday, 12 February 21

Tuesday, 13 April 21

Thursday, 22 April 21

Friday, 21 May 21

Tuesday, 15 June 21

Wednesday, 23 June 21

Tuesday, 20 July 21

Workshops:

Trading, Taxation and VAT                                                 Tuesday, 6 October 20

Governance and Charity Law         Tuesday,                                Tuesday, 3 November 20

Webinars:

Fraud and Independent Examination                           Tuesday, 29 June 21How to Read a Set of Accounts for Independent Examination                                                                                              Monday, 10 May 21

Receipts and Payments                                                    Sunday, 21 February 21

Reserves and Covid                                                           Wednesday, 28 October 20

Serious Incident Reporting                                             Monday, 19 April 21

Taking on a New Client.                                                   Thursday, 18 March 21

Thinking of Becoming an Independent Examiner?     Monday, 14 December 20

VAT changes                                                                       Thursday, 26 November 20

Training Conferences:

Scotland, 26 August 2021

England and Wales, 28 October 2021

Booking at: https://www.acie.org.uk/events

Please direct all enquiries to Admin@acie.org.uk

Russell Hargreaves at Charity Finance reports that low levels of reserves meant some of the UK’s largest charities were “ill-prepared” for the impact of Covid-19, according to analysis by the accountancy firm BDO. The charities in the review held an average of two months of free reserves going into the pandemic, compared to three months when BDO last conducted the survey in 2017, the research says. The analysis, which looked at the finances of the 50 largest UK charities by income, also finds that as many as one in three could be breaking regulatory rules by not reporting their level of free reserves in their annual accounts. - See more.

Struggling charities are being bolstered by an outpouring of public support with one in five people giving to good causes in the last three months.

Read More: 

04 August 2020 by Stephen Delahunty

Just 4 per cent of small international development charities have been eligible for government support, network says

Dozens of UK charities working in international development are expected to close over the next 12 months as a result of the Government’s £2.9 billion global development budget cut, an aid network has warned.

A survey of 53 small international development charities with annual incomes of between £5,000 and £1m, carried out by the Small International Development Charities Network (SIDCN) in June this year, found that despite nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of respondents seeing demand for their services increase, funding opportunities were rapidly disappearing.

Read More

Don Bawtree and Peter Lewis give some advice on adapting financial reporting to deal with the issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. - See more.

Advice on income Accounting:

• Grants
• Donated Services
• Waivers
• Income conversions

Expenditure: Furloughed staff costs

Liabilities

Assets