The Charity Commission has issued findings from its recent compliance work. The most common issues were:

Poor financial management and reporting. This is still a significant problems in the charities that were investigated and includes issues such as poor financial controls, poor accounting records, as well as a failure to file accounts.

In many cases this resulted in fraud, theft or losses to the charity. Many charities overlook the need to have appropriate financial controls and systems in place, and forget the importance – which can have serious consequences and even result in the charity having to close.

The second issue was around trustee and governance problems. Key problems including failing to check conflicts of interest, poor internal controls and poor risk management systems. All of these issues can lead to poor performance of the charity and decisions being taken that are not in the best interests of the charity.

The full report and findings can be found by clicking here.

All of the updates focus around managing financial problems, reviewing and managing risks, safeguarding the assets of the charity, and setting reserves during times of financial difficulty.

The charity can apply for a password online and is then able to not only file their accounts, but also update the charity and trustee information.

To avoid these penalties organisations need to make sure they pay their PAYE and NIC on time, or only miss one payment. If you miss one payment it must be less than six months late – otherwise you still get a penalty.

In a time of reduced income levels for most organisations, care needs to be taken that money isn’t wasted on unforeseen penalties. The penalty is based on a percentage of the PAYE and NIC due, and starts at 1% and increases each time another payment is late.