UK’s first social enterprise accountants open for business

What, if any remuneration will the Harris' be taking from the CIC?

Yeah, and I'm the pope.

There is no limit on the directors salary, so while claiming to be 'not for profit' CIC's can divert said profits into director's remuneration without sanction: not that tax efficient but if you are claiming to be snow white who looks at the wolf lurking underneath.

CIC's - Another barmy labour plan dreampt up by well meaning idiots.

I think you'll find that many of us do work for local charities and community groups for either free or very low fees, I may not be a CIC but I do my bit and actually I do understand them!!

According to the CIC regulator website Director remuneration will be reported.  So if you are really interested in how this good couple choose to reward themselves you will be able to find out. http://www.cicregulator.gov.uk/guidance/Chapter%208%20-%20October%202009%20(version%203%20Final).pdf

"Annual CIC company report: The Regulations prescribe minimum requirements. These include:
Information on the remuneration of the directors such as the total aggregate pay of directors, details of the highest paid director (if the aggregate pay of directors exceeds £200,000) and the number of directors who have received share benefits."

Coolmanwithabeard.  There is a difference between working for a handful of charitable clients, I myself have prepared accounts for and audited many charitable entities for .  I think this is different to basing your entire client base for "Community Interest". 

This venture is nothing more than a gimmick.

 With in excess of 100 newly incorporated CICs monthly and just shy of 4000 in total, I think CIC is proving to be more than just a gimmick, but if it was a gimmick it would be no more a gimmick than charitable status, or indeed a professional accreditation.

It is the first new company law for nigh on 150 years, with a regulator who has more powers than the charity commission. There are rules and procedures, if anyone who wants to get into detail please feel free to email me directly at john@cicassociation.org.uk, i'd have to put too many caveats in to fully explain on here, and want to keep this simple as im off to see my nieces recorder solo!

Accountants are key to getting accurate information to entrepreneurs who want to investigate this option, and its great the discussion is getting airtime on this site, as it will no doubt help increase awareness. I do want to challenge some of the comments in this thread, as to an extent they seem to convey an informed opinion on CIC, but from some of the comments I would suggest a bit more research is needed before we're hung, drawn and quartered. To answer the points directly:

CIC directors/employees etc can draw a market salary for their work, we're not a pro-bono movement, although much work in the sector is delivered at discount or free by accountants as a loss leader/csr project. If for example your running a multi million pound CIC, or a kitchen table business for that matter, you should expect to be remunerated accordingly. We're businesses first and foremost. The functional difference between us and normal Ltd co's is our motivations. We dont work primarily to maximise profit for the shareholder,rather achieving benefit for the stated community of interest has primacy (which differs from CIC to CIC). The companies memo and arts and articles of association have to be right before receiving approval from our Regulator.

As usual salaries are deducted before any entry is made in a profit column. Snow white and the big bad wolf are for fairy tales, and although we mostly satisfy the general understanding of the term 'not for profit', its not relevant in any functional sense (This is also a problem for charities, Co-ops etc, who all have to work profitably and within business disciplines to achieve growth/sustainability etc)

As already mentioned in this thread our CIC regulatory requirements include annual statements of disclosure, and whether there is truth in your assumption that this was thought up by well meaning barmy labour idiots, there is also a reasonable back copy of evidence and research that show the reasons why the legislation was brought into effect. It has also been referenced as a Tory tool to privatise the NHS by the back door........you pays your money! Its not an answer for all, its not an answer to everything, but it does have quite a few USP's that can and are being used to create impacts.

Its far from perfect, but please dont throw the baby out with the bathwater, we're already doing positive things for the community, across all regions and business sectors............help us move forward.

John, you were too polite, there is no excuse for such prejudice but if you hang around Aweb long enough you'll see lots more. 

For those of you that can't read, the article did not say this is a NFP organisation but rather that it is being run as a social enterprise http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/pages/about-social-enterprise.html to assist other social enterprises, which will incorporate NFP organisations.  It's objectives and ethos are laudable so why such distain/fear?

This sector is huge and without it much of the community infrastructure in every town would collapse and your council tax go through the roof.  What's so encouraging is that by taking on the good bits of trade & commerce the SE model is starting to thrive in the commercial and public sectors and, although there are some here who will not be able to put 2 & 2 together (without a spreadsheet), I think Darling Dave and his Big Society have every intention of making use of them.

So, great stuff and best of luck to them.

Can someone please briefly outline how one goes about setting up such an entity and is it much different to being a Charity?