Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 1995
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1995 No. 2724
CHARITIES
The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 1995
Made 17th October 1995
Laid before Parliament 20th October 1995
Coming into force 1st March 1996
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 42, 44, 45 and 86(3) of the Charities Act 19931, and after such consultation as is mentioned in section 86(4) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on 1st March 1996.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, the expression—
“common deposit fund” means a common deposit fund established by a scheme under section 25 of the 1993 Act;
“common investment fund” means a common investment fund established by a scheme under section 24 of the 1993 Act, other than a fund the trusts of which provide for property to be transferred to the fund only by or on behalf of a participating charity of which the charity trustees are the trustees appointed to manage the fund;
“financial year” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 5 below;
“institution or body corporate connected with the charity”, in relation to a charity, means an institution or body corporate which—
(a) in the case of an institution, is controlled by,
(b) in the case of a body corporate, in which a substantial interest is held by,
the charity or any one or more of the charity trustees acting in his or their capacity as such;
“recognised stock exchange” has the meaning assigned to it by section 841 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 19882; and
“the 1993 Act” means the Charities Act 1993.
(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person is connected with a charity trustee if —
(a)
(a) he is the child, parent, grandchild, grandparent, brother or sister of the charity trustee;
(b)
(b) he is the spouse of the charity trustee or of any person connected with him by virtue of sub-paragraph (a) above;
(c)
(c) he is a trustee of any trust, not being a charity, the beneficiaries or potential beneficiaries of which include the charity trustee or any person connected with him by virtue of sub-paragraph (a) or (b) above and is acting in his capacity as such;
(d)
(d) he is a partner of the charity trustee or of any person connected with him by virtue of sub-paragraph (a), (b) or (c) above and is acting in his capacity as such; or
(e)
(e) the person is a body corporate, not being a company which is connected with a charitable institution within the meaning of section 58(5) of the Charities Act 19923, in which the charity trustee has, or the charity trustee and any other charity trustee or trustees or person or persons connected with him by virtue of sub-paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) above, taken together, have, a substantial interest.
(3) Any expression in this regulation which also appears in Schedule 5 to the 1993 Act shall be construed in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 4 of that Schedule.
Form and content of statements of accounts
3.—(1) Subject to regulation 4 below, the requirements as to form and contents of a statement of accounts prepared in accordance with section 42(1) of the 1993 Act are those set out in the following provisions of this regulation.
(2) The statement shall consist of the following, that is to say—
(a)
(a) a statement of financial activities which satisfies the requirements set out in Part I of Schedule 1 to these Regulations; and
(b)
(b) a balance sheet which satisfies the requirements set out in Part II of that Schedule.
(3) The statement shall be prepared in accordance with the methods and principles specified and referred to in Part III of Schedule 1 to these Regulations.
(4) There shall be provided by way of notes to the accounts the information specified in Part IV of Schedule 1 to these Regulations.
(5) Part V of Schedule 1 to these Regulations shall have effect for the purposes of defining expressions used in that Schedule.
(6) The balance sheet shall be signed by one or more of the charity trustees of the charity, each of whom has been authorised to do so, and shall specify the date on which the accounts to which the statement relates were approved by the charity trustees.
Form and contents: special cases
4.—(1) In the case of a common investment fund or a common deposit fund which is deemed to be a charity by virtue of section 24(8), including that subsection as applied by section 25(2), of the 1993 Act, the requirements as to form and contents of a statement of accounts prepared in accordance with section 42(1) of the 1993 Act are those set out in paragraphs (2) to (6) below.
(2) Subject to paragraph (8) below, the statement shall consist of the following, that is to say—
(a)
(a) a statement of total return which satisfies the requirements set out in Part I of Schedule 2 to these Regulations;
(b)
(b) a statement of movement in funds which satisfies the requirements set out in Part II of Schedule 2 to these Regulations; and
(c)
(c) a balance sheet which satisfies the requirements set out in Part III of Schedule 2 to these Regulations.
(3) The statement shall be prepared in accordance with the methods and principles specified and referred to in Part IV of Schedule 2 to these Regulations.
(4) There shall be provided by way of notes to the accounts the information specified in Part V of Schedule 2 to these Regulations.
(5) Part VI of Schedule 2 to these Regulations shall have effect for the purposes of defining expressions used in that Schedule.
(6) The balance sheet shall be signed by one or more of the trustees appointed to manage the fund, each of whom has been authorised to do so, and shall specify the date on which the accounts to which the statement relates were approved by the trustees appointed to manage the fund in accordance with the scheme by which the fund was established.
(7) In the case of a charity which—
(a)
(a) is a registered housing association within the meaning of the Housing Associations Act 19854and whose registration has been recorded under section 5(3) of that Act; or
(b)
(b) has during the financial year in question—
(i) conducted an institution in relation to which a designation made, or having effect as if made, under section 129 of the Education Reform Act 19885or section 28 of the Further and Higher Education Act 19926has effect;
(ii) received financial support from funds administered by a higher education funding council or further education funding council within the meaning of that Act of 1992 in respect of expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the charity in connection with that institution; and
(iii) incurred no expenditure for charitable purposes other than the purposes of that institution or any other such institution,
the requirements as to form and contents of a statement of accounts prepared in pursuance of section 42(1) of the 1993 Act are that the statement shall consist of a balance sheet as at the end of the financial year in respect of which the statement of accounts is prepared and an income and expenditure account.
(8) In the case of any financial year of a common deposit fund in which there are no gains or losses on disposal or revaluation of assets, paragraph (2) above shall have effect as if sub-paragraph (b) were omitted.
Financial year
5.—(1) The financial year of a charity shall, for the purposes of the 1993 Act and regulations made thereunder, be determined in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.
(2) The first financial year of a charity shall be—
(a)
(a) in the case of a charity which is established before the date on which these Regulations come into force, the period beginning with the day immediately following the end of the period in respect of which a statement of accounts was required to be prepared under any statutory provision contained in or having effect under an Act of Parliament applicable to that charity before the coming into force of section 42 of the 1993 Act and ending with the accounting reference date of the charity or such other date, not more than seven days before or after the accounting reference date, as the charity trustees may determine;
(b)
(b) in the case of a charity which is established on or after the date on which these Regulations come into force, the period beginning with the day on which the charity is established and ending with the accounting reference date of the charity or such other date, not more then seven days before or after the accounting reference date, as the charity trustees may determine.
(3) Subsequent financial years of a charity begin with the day immediately following the end of the charity’s previous financial year and end with its accounting reference date or such other date, not more than seven days before or after the accounting reference date, as the charity trustees may determine.
(4) The accounting reference date of a charity shall, for the purposes of this regulation, be—
(a)
(a) in the first financial year of a charity which is established before the date on which these Regulations come into force, such date, not less than 6 months nor more than 18 months after the date on which that financial year began, as the charity trustees may determine;
(b)
(b) in the first financial year of a charity which is established on or after the date on which these Regulations come into force, such date, not less than 6 months nor more than 18 months after the date on which the charity was established, as the charity trustees may determine;
(c)
(c) in any subsequent financial year of a charity, the date 12 months after the previous accounting reference date of the charity or such other date, not less than 6 months nor more than 18 months after the previous accounting reference date of the charity as the trustees may...
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