Welcome to the April edition.
It is clearly an understatement to repeat the adage that “we live in interesting times” – whether at a a national level, trying to navigate changes to the welfare benefits system and the rollout of the employer National Insurance increases, or at an international level, worrying about the impact of a potential global trade war and how this might directly or indirectly hinder our charities. (There’ll certainly be plenty for our CEO Forum to get its teeth into when it meets later this week!)
At a slightly less existential level, for those of you who wrestle with charity reporting and accounting, you may well be aware that the consultation on the draft SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) was released at the end of March, seeking views on a range of proposed changes. Individual feedback is certainly encouraged, and at the same time the Charity Finance Group (CFG) will be actively involved in this process, which you can follow this here, and will be running a series of consultation sessions for members.
Not to be confused with the SORP process, there is also a concurrent consultation, run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), around financial thresholds in charity law, where discussion around potential increases to the audit thresholds may be of particular interest to small charities with annual income around the £1 million level currently requiring an annual audit (rather than independent examination).
While perhaps lacking the urgency or immediacy of those front-and-centre issues that occupy our political and economic antenna at the moment, we’d certainly encourage your charity’s awareness of and input into these two consultations, which in their own way may also influence how charities operate moving forward.
Donal Watkin
Chief Executive
This month’s edition features:
- Upcoming ACO events
- Jobs board
- Member spotlight on Turn2us
- Guest article from WRS Insurance Brokers
- Member news
- Policy and sector news
- Publications