By John Maddocks, Technical Lead, Charities, Social Enterprises and Sustainability, CIPFA
Two new Charities SORPs were published in 2014 and are effective for accounting periods commencing on or after 1 January 2015. Charities reporting under SORP will be required to report under either an FRS 102 based SORP or an FRSSE based SORP.
And more change is on the way!
The FRSSE SORP option is expected to be available for only one year, after which the proposal is to move to just the one FRS 102 based SORP but with amended options for smaller charities.
Whichever route your charity takes there are a number of changes to take account of. There are changes to the trustees’ annual report, to accounting policies and disclosures. The SoFA, while keeping the funds columns has revised categories of income and expenditure. The balance sheet remains more or less the same although those charities with ‘social investments’ will be required to disclose them on the balance sheet where material.
So are you all sorted? If you haven’t already looked at this it’s time to:
- set a timetable, including your transition year
- assess impact of new standard on accounting policies and financial items and evaluate potential adjustments
- check if exemptions apply
- ensure documentation and systems are in place
- train staff
- communicate with key stakeholders
- restate comparative figures.
The charities SORP website provides a number of help sheets to assist you with this process and you can access online copies of the SORP there too, or go to the CIPFA website to purchase hard copies: SORP FRS 102 and SORP FRSEE. Further help can be found at CIPFA TISonline.
- John will be speaking at the CIPFA Charity Conference on 3 November during a session entitled 'Measuring impact and social value' exploring the different tools and approaches to measuring impact and social value, including case studies.