PCC Accounts
Requirements
Each PCC is, in effect, the Board of Trustees of a Charity. This gives the PCC a number of benefits and opportunities, but it also lays a number of duties before them; the need to produce an Annual Report and Accounts that satisfy the requirements of the 1993, 2006 and 2011 Charities Acts is one of them.
Annual Reports and Accounts produced according to these guidelines will:
- Be compliant with the Charities Act; important if PCCs are to maintain their exception from individual registration with the Charity Commission.
- Be acceptable to the major grant awarding bodies e.g. English Heritage.
- Help new treasurers as they come to grips with the role and all that it entails.
- Give treasurers the confidence to change and enhance the documents that they have inherited.
- Make it easier for the Parish Finance team (based at Diocesan House) to provide treasurers with effective support and guidance.
Updating for the Charities Act 2011
The Charities Act 2011 consolidates previous charity legislation
into a single comprehensive Act on 14 March 2012.
Reference should be made to the 2011 act in any document (in this
case the accounting policies, an audit or independent examination report)
prepared on or after 14 March 2012, irrespective of the financial year
to which that document refers.
Independent examiners should note that:
- their examination of the accounts was under section 145 of the Act;
- they follow the Directions made under section 145 (5) (b) of the Act;
- the charity keeps accounting records under section 130 of the Act; and
- the accounts comply with the requirements of the 2011 Act.
The Charity Commission are currently working on a revised wording
for the independent examiners report and once this is complete, will be
available on the Annual Forms section of the Diocesan website.
Similarly, if preparing accounts, reference should be made to the
2011 act where the compilation of those accounts is completed (i.e. signed off
by the Independent Examiner) on or after 14 March 2012, irrespective of
the financial year to which those accounts refer.
For example, the accounts of a charity which is not established
under company law would comply with Part 8 of the Charities Act 2011 (i.e. a
PCC). The accounting policies might then advise: ‘the financial statements have
been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Accounting
Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005), issued in March
2005, UK Accounting Standards and the Charities Act 2011’.
There is no requirement to go back and change the Charities Act references in a document that has already been finalised before 14 March 2012.
Independent Examiners Reports
Please find below the reports which can be printed and completed by the Independent Examiner. These must be sent with your accounts to Diocesan House.
Published on: 28/03/2012
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