Charity Commission consults on new Statement of Recommended Practice

The Charity Commission and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator have launched a consultation on a new draft Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP).

The SORP provides a comprehensive framework for charity accounting and reporting that enables charities to adopt a consistent interpretation of financial reporting standards and to account for those transactions that arise when undertaking charitable activities.  All charities that prepare their accounts on an accruals basis to give a ‘true and fair’ basis must follow the SORP.

In March 2013 the Financial Reporting Council issued a new Financial Reporting Standard (FRS102) which will form the basis of financial reporting for accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2015.

Amongst the proposed changes are:

• a new module on social investments;
• a reduced number of headings required in the Statement of Financial Activities; and
• material grants made to institutes to be listed in notes, rather than made available in a separate publication.

The consultation will close on 4 November.

More details about the consultation can be found on the ORP micro-site.

For more information please contact Chris Hook using 0191 211 7801 or [email protected].