Charities: audit and independent examination

Mon,15 December 2014
News

The Cabinet Office has launched a consultation on increasing the financial thresholds at which charity accounts must be audited or examined

Currently, charities that fall into either of the following categories must have their annual accounts audited by a member of the Register of Statutory Auditors:

  • an annual income of more than £500,000
  • assets worth more than £3.26 million and an annual income of more than £250,000

The government is proposing to increase these thresholds to:

  • an annual income of more than £1 million
  • assets worth more than £3.26 million and an annual income of more than £500,000

The Cabinet Office is also consulting on increasing the threshold above which charities must prepare group accounts from a total income of £500,000 to £1 million.

These proposals would make up to 4,000 charities exempt from the expensive requirement for a full audit but still keep an appropriate amount of scrutiny.

The consultation runs until 27 January 2015: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/charities-audit-and-independent-examination