Guidance

Independent examination of charity accounts: guidance for trustees (CC31)

Guidance explains what independent examination involves, how to select an independent examiner for your charity and what you need to do to prepare for an independent examination.

• From: The Charity Commission
• Published: 1 March 2012
• Last updated: 14 July 2021 — See all updates

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Independent examination of charity accounts: guidance for trustees

Ref: CC31

HTML

Appendix: independent examination of charity accounts CC31

ODT, 8.42 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email [email protected]. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

Where a charity’s annual income is over £25,000, the trustees must arrange for an independent person or accountancy firm to carry out either an audit or an independent examination of their charity’s accounts. The purpose of this is to give the trustees, and those who support or fund the charity, some independent assurance that the charity’s money has been properly accounted for and accounting records kept. The trustees of most charities are able to choose to have an independent examination instead of an audit. Independent examination is a ‘light touch’ scrutiny involving the examiner checking for specific matters only. Because it is narrowly defined and does not involve forming an opinion as to whether the accounts are ‘true and fair’, it usually costs less than an audit.

It is the trustees’ responsibility to select a competent person who has the necessary skills and knowledge to undertake a successful independent examination. For those charities with an income of more than £250,000, the trustees must check that the person is qualified and eligible to act as their examiner.

This guidance gives trustees the information they need to:

• check whether their charity can have its accounts independently examined instead of audited
• appoint a suitable person to carry out the independent examination, and
• prepare for the independent examination

Published 1 March 2012
Last updated 14 July 2021 + show all updates

1. 14 July 2021

   The guidance has been updated to include the use of electronic signatures on the balance sheet, trustees' annual report and independent examination.

2. 28 August 2019

   In 2017 we updated our guidance to independent examiners (CC32). We have now updated our parallel guidance to trustees on independent examination (CC31). The updated guidance is much shorter than the previous version and focusses on the key things that trustees need to know about independent examination.

3. 1 March 2012

   First published.