Obtaining Grants - Charities

Nikdoug

Hi all

I'm still an AAT student but thought you might be able offer a few pointers. I work in practice however the firm i work for doesn't have any clients that are Charities.

My Uncle is the treasurer for a fairly new charity Can-Do.

http://www.candoweb.org/index.html

He has asked me if i would like to help prepare the accounts and act as the independent examiner and also if i knew anything about obtaining grants.

The accounts are going to be fairly simple, and the Charity Commission website has lots of guidance, so i don't have a problem with acting as the independent examiner however i have no experience with grants.

Any help or where i can find help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Nick

coojee

Just a word of warning, you can't prepare the accounts AND do the independant examination (since you're now not independant - you'd be checking your own work). You can only do one or the other.

Nikdoug

Hi Coojee

Thank you for the comment, i did think this when my Uncle asked me and I've been reading up on the Charity Commission website where i found the following in the guidance for independent examination:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Publications/cc32.aspx#section%20c2

"D4. Who must prepare the Annual Report and accounts?


The short answer

It is the responsibility of the charity trustees to prepare a Trustees Annual Report and accounts although an independent examiner may help a charity prepare them."

coojee

Nikdoug wrote: »

Hi Coojee

Thank you for the comment, i did think this when my Uncle asked me and I've been reading up on the Charity Commission website where i found the following in the guidance for independent examination:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Publications/cc32.aspx#section%20c2

"D4. Who must prepare the Annual Report and accounts?


The short answer

It is the responsibility of the charity trustees to prepare a Trustees Annual Report and accounts although an independent examiner may help a charity prepare them."

You'd have to be very careful as to the level of "help" you gave them. See below where it says you can't review your own work (ie if you're the book keeper you can't also examine the accounts):

"C3. Who is an independent person?

The short answer

An examiner must be independent of the charity whose accounts are being reviewed. Independence means that the examiner is not influenced, or perceived to be, by either close personal relationships with the trustees of the charity or by a day to day involvement in the administration of the charity being examined.

In more detail

For an examiner to be independent that individual should have no connection with the charity trustees which might inhibit the impartial conduct of the examination. An examiner cannot independently review his or her own work and so the person who is the charity’s book-keeper cannot be the charity’s examiner."

RAS

I think you need to be careful here. From memory if the charity has income over £250k then the independent examiner would have to be a member of AAT, rather than a student. If over £500k, then a full audit is required by a CCAB qualified accountant/firm.

I would say that obtaining grants is a very specialist area.

Perhaps you might be better of preparing the accounts yourself and getting someone else to examine/audit the accounts as doubtfull if you would have enough experience/qualifications to do this yourself.

Hope helps, careful as Charities is a very specialist area.

PGM

RAS wrote: »

I would say that obtaining grants is a very specialist area.

It will need a fair of googling. Theres will be lists and emails of things available.

Finding out the bodies that will fund you, and the grants/schemes available.

Also get involved in meetings that may help and also trying to find some expert advice.

Not an easy job!

Nikdoug

Thanks again for your feedback.

As regards to the accounts, i have had no involvment in the bookkeeping and from what i have been told the income is well below the £250,000 per annum mark and will therefore only require a simple set of receipts and payments accounts.

I did advise when approaced that i had no past experience with obtaining grants and that i would look into it. I will continue to do so but i will suggest that further advice is probably a must have.

Cheers

Nick