Certain charities may now benefit from recent changes to audit limits.
Changes to the audit requirement for charities in England and Wales have been introduced. The government highlighted that the ‘proposals become ‘live’ to 31 March 2015, meaning that charities who fall below the thresholds and whose accounting years end on or after 31 March can benefit immediately.’
The requirement for an audit for a charity is now where the charity has:
- an income of more than £1m; or
- assets worth more than £3.26m and an income of more than £250,000.
You can find the Statutory Instrument and further details on ACCA’s technical advisory webpages
If a charity’s income is below the limits highlighted above – and assuming they do not opt for an audit report – charities are required to have an independent examination. The exceptions are in England and Wales where income does not exceed £25,000. If this is the case they are not required to have an independent examination.
Charities operating in Scotland must register with OSCR. This includes bodies that are established and/or registered as charities in other legal jurisdictions, such as England and Wales.
The audit requirements of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and The Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 apply to Scottish registered charities. The limits are:
- gross income over £500,000
- where the gross assets are over £3,260,000.
Article contributed by ACCA In Practice