Thursday 19 January 2012

Sustainable funding - guide

NCVO has issued a free guide aimed at trustees and managers which sets out the good governance principles which they should consider in working towards a financially sustainable future. It sets out the key attributes of a sustainably funded organisation and important governance aspects underpinning sustainability including planning, monitoring, financial and risk management. It also highlights the issues to be reviewed in planning and overseeing income generating activities. The guide may be a useful practical guide for organisations in developing a sustainable funding strategy.

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Business Survival toolkit

Creative & Cultural Skills, together with partner agencies has produced a suite of tools to support organisational sustainability. Over 70 tools are included covering four broad logical themes – where are you now?; where are you going?; how will you get there? and finally how will you make it happen? The toolkit is designed to help organisations reduce costs, diversify and manage reductions in income and develop better longer term plans. You can find it here.

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Charity Commission - risk framework

The Commission has recently issued an important document which explains how it will carry out its regulatory and oversight role in the light of reductions in its overall funding. It effectively places a greater emphasis on trustees and governing bodies to pro-actively manage risk but also outlines when and how it will intervene and engage with charities. The Commission regularly finds that weak financial management and/or governance arrangements underpin many of the cases it needs to investigate. It is available here.

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HMRC – filing corporation tax returns online

Recently we have helped a few groups out who have been required to make an annual return to HMRC online and so we are starting to learn how the system works – it’s all new to us too.

If your company has to file its accounts and tax return (even a nil one) to HMRC this will have to be done online, which means that you will first need to register for online services. If it is a charity that has to file you will need to have your ‘Charity Repayment reference’ handy (this is a 5 digit number with XR or XT at the start – if you cannot find this number on any of your documents you will need to request it from HMRC if you are asked to file a return).

Those companies that receive a notice to file a return to HMRC have 12 months after their year-end to do so, so if your year end is 31 March the deadline is not far off the horizon and you need to make sure you have everything ready – note that registration for online services can take up to 10 days.

If you need any more information regarding this you can contact Simon Bostrom on 0113 270 6291. You can also check out our newsletter article on the issue.

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Bradford collection/drop off service

Our arrangements have changed from the start of Jan 2012. If your organisation uses this service for getting your accounting records to/from us you should already have received a letter from us about how this will be managed in future. If not, or you think you may use this service in future please check here for further details on the new arrangements.

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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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