WCVA is pleased to join one of the engagement strands that will be involved in developing the next version of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP).
The Charities SORP provides guidance to preparers of charity accounts, including trustees, accountants and independent examiners. The SORP provides recommendations and requirements setting out how to prepare ‘true and fair’ accounts in accordance with UK accounting standards. The SORP is updated from time to time to take account of changes to accounting standards and/or charity law.
The aim of the new engagement process is to draw in views and ideas on improving the SORP to inform the new version.
WCVA has chosen to join the engagement strand for smaller charities. Whilst WCVA is not a small charity itself, our role is to represent the sector in Wales, the vast majority of which is made up of smaller charities.
The focus of this strand will be to articulate the challenges facing smaller charities, offer suggestions as to simplification and identify the key elements necessary for reporting their charity’s story.
As the process develops, we look forward to engaging with small charities in Wales and the Third Sector Support Wales Network of CVCs to hear your views on how the SORP could be improved.
The SORP gives a framework for accounting and reporting, designed to:
- help charity trustees meet their legal requirement for their accounts to give a true and fair view
- encourage consistency in charity accounting standards
- give recommendations for charity annual reporting
All charities must use the SORP to prepare their accounts unless the trustees have opted to prepare receipts and payments accounts and their charity is a non-company charity which had an income of £250,000 or less in the reporting period.
Do you have any views on how the SORP could be improved? Get in touch on governance@wcva.cymru.
Related guidance: Preparing charity accounts