Charity Independent Examination

wrongmark

I work in practice as a semi-senior (5 years experience) and I've been a full AAT member for the past few years and will soon be ACCA qualified.

I have recently been approached in a personal capacity and asked if I could perform an independent examination of a very small charity (T/O < £7k) of which I would do on a voluntary basis (at no charge).

It has previously been examined by a member of the Institute of Bankers whatever that is :tongue_smilie:.

I have experience in charity auditing and independent examinations from my work in practice but I am obviously not a MIP.

Would I be qualified to do this? AND... Does anyone know where I can get an example of an independent examination report?

claudialowe

For small charties such as yours, I do not think that there is any qualification required to IE them.

They should perhaps we aware that if you do not charge, they cannot sue!!!!

The charity commission website has loads of info on how to IE a charity and the wording that is required.

www.charity-commission.gov.uk is the website


Post back if you want more help, or PM me and I can email you the info that I have got.

Claudia

T.C.

I do independent examination for a charity and got all my information (a few years ago now) from a professional organisation. I am sure you will find there details on the Charity Commission website. Interesting work, but remember to charge!

A.C.I.E - check out their website!

deanshepherd

claudialowe wrote: »

They should perhaps we aware that if you do not charge, they cannot sue!!!!

Sorry for going off at a tangent but is that correct?

I was always told that anyone can still sue for negligence even if the work was done pro-bono.

I'm sure it's in the guidelines somewhere that if you do work for free, and you are not an MIP and hence do not have PII, then you have to inform the client that you have no PII cover but they can still sue you anyway!

Poodle

If you are only carrying out work on an honorary basis and only receiving genuine expenses then you do not have to become a MIP. But you do have to complete an exemption form, available from the MIP team.

Regarding sueing, I don't think that you can stop any one from sueing you in this day and age for anything. It's the protection with insurance and the like that's important to us self employed bods.

Poodle

PS I had Institute of Bankers in a former life, when we had to cope with no computers:laugh: It was the banking industry recognised professional qualification, I have not had anything to do with it for at least 2 decades and I am surprosed that it still exists. When I had this it was widely accepted as being pretty useless outside of banking where it was not recognised.

claudialowe

Dean - I bow to your superior knowledge and stand corrected - perhaps this was back in the good ol' days. As you can now sue someone for having a bouncy castle at their party, nothing else would surprise me :mad2:

Claudia

Cadwood

claudialowe wrote: »

Dean - I bow to your superior knowledge and stand corrected - perhaps this was back in the good ol' days. As you can now sue someone for having a bouncy castle at their party, nothing else would surprise me :mad2:

Claudia

I have recently been asked to do a IE on a voluntary basis as well (t/o c£60k). I have asked for the exemption form to be sent to me, so all is in order there.

However, given that I am not a MiP I do not have PI insurance, how do I mitigate the possibility of being sued?! Clearly, I don't intend to do anyhting that would make them want to sue me, but nonetheless, it now seems quite a risky business doing voluntary work.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

paulb

Charities with a T/O of < £10K do not legally require an Independent Examination. You would just have to call it a 'review' or something similar. As this would not be a formal examination, then really there are no rules as to who can carry out such a review. It is purely at the discretion of the charity involved.

Nilesh Mandvia

ACCA Rule book

Wrongmark,

I hope you have read rule book of ACCA. It does not allow its student member or member who do not hold Global Pracitsing Certificate. If you do then would be in direct breach of ACCA's rules. However there is some exemption for volutary work. Here is a link to acca's website. Have a read through.

http://www.accaglobal.com/documents/pc_requirements.pdf

If you are working in practice, have you asked senior partner/owner to do the independant examination of charity. He/she may well give you permission to do free of charge.

Nilesh