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wycas e-bulletin

Thursday 27 July 2017

New Charity Governance Code

The Charity Governance Code has just been launched. This new framework for good governance has been developed by a cross-sector collaborative steering group, with the help of over 200 charities, individuals and related organisations. In its own words: ‘It is the aim of this Code to help charities and their trustees develop high standards of governance. As a sector, we owe it to our beneficiaries, stakeholders and supporters to demonstrate exemplary leadership and governance. This Code is a practical tool to help trustees achieve this.’

Click here to download the Code.

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2016/17 Annual survey results now available

We recently carried out our Annual Evaluation exercise. We asked every organisation using our services during 2016/17 what they thought of our support.  The responses have been analysed and the results are now available on our website. We were delighted with the extremely positive assessments particularly given the challenging operating environment the sector continues to experience. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey; your input is much appreciated.

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Small charity trustees - How to overcome key challenges

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) has published 'Small charity trustees: How to overcome key challenges'. This is a short paper which, as the title suggests, examines some of the key challenges that trustees of small charities face and recommendation for overcoming them. There are some useful pointers, both for trustees and for charities.

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WYCAS 2016/17 performance

As part of our commitment to good governance, each year we publish a short summary ‘snapshot’ report of our work and performance in each of the West Yorkshire district areas. The report to our beneficiaries, funders and other stakeholder is just a single A4 page. It draws on information from our annual survey and our own monitoring and activity data for each area. The 2016/17 reports for Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield areas are now available to view on our website on the Our Performance page. For the first time we have also produced an overall report of all WYCAS activity in the year.

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Revisiting your annual reports

Charities have been urged to shorten their annual reports, and include a two-page summary to make them more accessible.  Speaking at a recent Charity Conference, Joe Saxton 2017 of nfpSynergy said so few people currently read audited accounts that it was unnecessary for charities to go into as much depth as many did. There is a summary of the points here. We have also produced a good practice guide on presenting financial and other management information effectively and with impact.

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Sign the pledge!

Fraud costs the UK £193 billion a year, with the UK charity sector facing a loss of £1.93 billion alone. It is an issue affecting all size of charity and sadly there have been a number of recent high profile cases within the sector. The Charity Finance Group (CFG) has launched the Counter Fraud Pledge. The pledge recognises the work charities are doing to combat fraud and aims to guide your charity through the steps needed to prevent fraud. There are six measures that you can pledge your charity to take to be active in preventing and combating fraud. Details are available on their pledge page, where you can sign up to take the pledge.

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Financial Administrator at Communityworks Bradford

A competent financial administrator who has experience of using Sage is required by Communityworks.  It is expected that the job would take on average 6 hours per week and they are flexible about how that is worked.   They are open 6.00am to 8.00pm most days in the week and there could be the option in future to do part of the work remotely.

For further information please contact Jane.

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E-bulletin

Our e-bulletin is issued on a monthly basis and sent directly to registered subscribers. It is also available from our website. Please note that information and resources contained in the e-bulletin are general in nature and not intended as specific advice or recommendations. We welcome any feedback on the content and format so that we can improve it and make sure it meets your needs. Please let us know  if you have any comments or suggestions.

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Our services

WYCAS provides a range of specialist services designed to meet the needs of the third sector:

• One to one support and training
• Preparation of year-end accounts
• Independent examination
• Financial training courses and workshops
• Computerising accounts
• Bookkeeping and management accounts
• Advice and information
• Bespoke consultancy projects

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