Government finalises changes to charities’ audit and independent examination
27 Mar, 2015
The Cabinet Office has finalised The Charities Act 2011 (Group Accounts) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/322, "The 2015 Regulations"), which increase the audit exemption thresholds for charities, increase the threshold at which group accounts must be prepared and broaden the class of bodies whose members can carry out independent examinations of audit exempt charities.
The 2015 Regulations:
- raise the income threshold for charities below which an audit is not required from £500,000 to £1m. The threshold for the preparation of group accounts will be similarly increased;
- not alter the asset threshold for audit exemption for now. An audit will be required if a charity’s income exceeds £250,000 and its gross assets exceed £3.26m; and
- add the Institute of Financial Accountants and the Chartered Public Accountants Association to the list of bodies whose members can carry out independent examinations.
The 2015 Regulations will apply to any financial year of a charity ending on or after 31 March 2015.
In addition the Charity Commission has updated its guidance Charity reporting and accounting - the essentials March 2015 (CC15c) (link to Charity Commission website) to incorporate these changes. This guidance explains the different accounting and reporting requirements for different sizes and types of charity for financial years ending on or after 31 March 2015.
Click for:
- Press release (link to Charity Commission website)
- The 2015 Regulations (link to Statutory Instrument)
- Our previous news story on the Government response to the consultation on charities’ audit and independent examination
