Charities

Charities make a big difference in our society, generally fulfilling a need and offering volunteering opportunities. Those in charge of running a charity, whether a committee or board, are the “charity trustees”. They are responsible for complying with the law.  For charities registered in Scotland, their duties are set out in The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and they are regulated by the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).  Charities in Scotland can be constituted in several forms, including an Unincorporated Association , Trust, Charitable Company or Scottish Charitable Incorporated Association (SCIO).

All charity trustees have legal duties and responsibilities, and no individual trustee has more responsibility than another – it is a “collective responsibility”.  Duties include acting in the interests of the charity with care and diligence and complying with specific duties for amongst other things maintaining financial records, employing effective financial controls and preparing annual accounts.  The accounts must comply with Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), include a Trustees Annual Report, be independently verified and submitted to OSCR within the prescribed timescale.

We provide services to assist your charity with this compliance:

  • Independent examinations of charity accounts that are not subject to the audit requirement (generally under £500,000 income in Scotland) on both the Receipts and Payments basis or Accruals basis following SORP 2015
  • Preparation of accounts and trustees’ annual reports from your charities underlying financial records, including those that will be examined or audited by a separate audit firm
  • Preparation of financial information for budgets, grant applications or management accounts
  • Advice on implementing appropriate financial controls
  • Advice on maintaining accounting records, in particular fund accounting for any restricted, designated and general funds
  • Advice or training on Governance matters – trustees’ responsibilities
  • Assistance with establishing a charity or making changes to an existing charity and explaining the different legal forms available and their own requirements
Based in East Lothian, we generally work with charities constituted in Scotland, but do have experience of working with charities registered under other jurisdictions.