Tuesday 31 July 2018

Prepare for the charity annual return 2018 and the new questions

The new return is not available yet but you can prepare for the changes.  The Charity Commission know that the public is concerned about high levels of pay in charities. In the annual return for 2018 they will ask for a breakdown of salaries across income bands, and the amount of total employee benefits for the highest paid member of staff.  There are more questions if staff earn over £60,000!  Doesn’t happen here!

If your charity has trading subsidiaries then there will be questions about the directors and whether they have gone on to become paid employees.  There will also be questions about charitable expenditure overseas, to establish how charities transfer and monitor funds sent overseas, as this represents a risk.  The service will become available in August. 

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Keeping yourself secure from cyber threats

The government recently published the 'Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2018' report. The report is a quantitative and qualitative survey of UK businesses and this year for the first time it includes charities. The survey helps organisations to understand the nature and significance of the cyber security threats they face and what others are doing to stay secure. It also supports the Government to shape future policy in this area.

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Brexit updates

The Office for Civil Society have been looking at themes on Brexit. They were:
• Concerns over potential reductions in access to EU funding
• Insight and discussion about how domestic successor funds could be used to support those furthest from the labour market
• Increased uncertainty about rights of EU nationals, both as employees of VCSEs and amongst beneficiaries
• Impacts on communities, including reports of arise in hate crime
• Potential impact of EU Exit on the local economy

Watch this space!

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Service User Evaluation 17/18

We have just published our evaluation.  It showed 72% of respondents have an annual income of less than £100,000. This year 28% of respondents had an income of over £100,000 compared with 21% in 2016/17 and we support organisations with up to £1,000,000 income with our accounts and examination services. Our beneficiaries continue to report that we provide them with high quality services – 96% rate our services as excellent or good. Our accounts preparation /examination, group training and management accounts services were the most highly valued services this year.

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E-learning course start date set for latest course

Our award winning, accredited E-Learning course Financial Practice and Procedures will run from Monday the 10th of September to Friday the 7th of December 2018. The 30 hour course is suitable for finance workers, treasurers and individuals interested in financial management in the third sector.

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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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