Charities SORP 2005 has been replaced by two new Charities SORPs. One of these is based on the FRSSE 2015, for use by charities that choose to adopt it and qualify as small under the Companies Act 2006. The other is based on FRS 102 and is for any size of charity. The choice is made trickier because the FRSSE-based SORP is likely to have a short life as it is due to be reviewed by 2016.
As with the LLP SORP, the new Charities SORP has been amended with regard to retirement benefits and related party disclosure. Additionally, the number of headings within the SoFA has been reduced and a ‘plain English’ style adopted to describe the nature of the income or expenditure included within each heading of the SoFA, through its columnar presentation distinguishing the classes of fund held: unrestricted income, restricted income and endowment, is retained.
The Charities Commission and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator have together produced guidance that sets out the main differences between SORP 2005 and the FRS 102 based new SORP:
They have also produced a help-sheet that maps SORP 2005 into the Charities SORP (FRS 102) paragraph by paragraph, giving explanations why when any SORP 2005 requirements have not been included in the new SORP. You can access this useful document here:
To aid the trustees in their choice of which of the new SORPs to adopt, a help-sheet has been published that analyses the differences between the two new SORPs.