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TAX NEWS: Charities miss accounts deadlines. By Dan Martin

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15th May 2006
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More than one in ten of the UK's biggest charities are failing to file their accounts on time, new research reveals.

The Charity Commission report said 11 of the 100 top charities failed to file accounts by within the statutory 10 month deadline last year leaving them in breach of charity law.

The study also showed that a quarter of all charities missed the deadline leaving over £6 billion of charitable funds unaccounted for.

The report said that fact that over half of all charities take more than eight months to file accounts is "disappointing" so urged the sector to work towards sending their accounts early.

The Commission said while trustees promptly sign off properly-audited accounts, many then fail to send them to the Commission within deadline.

It claimed that this may be due to a common misconception - that accounts must be signed off at an AGM before they can be filed.

This however is not the case with many auditors filing charity accounts as soon as they are signed off and before the AGM. Late submission might simply be down to a lack of awareness and forward planning, the Commisson said.

Charity Commission chief executive Andrew Hind said: "Charities do tremendous work but many of them need to become better at accounting to the public for what they do. This is especially true for the larger charities, which we expect to set a better example.

"Our message to charity trustees is file early. The timely submission of accounts says a great deal about how your charity is run. Demonstrating your efficiency in this way may help you access funding and will help you avoid criticism from those whose views you care about."

Sir Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry and a trustee of the charity Business in the Community, added: "Charities must be fully accountable to those who use and support them. There's absolutely no reason why the top100 charities can't adopt the same standards as the private sector when it comes to the speed of filing their accounts."

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DougScott
By Dougscott
16th May 2006 07:38

Gnashing of teeth
So are the Charity Commission going to do anything about it other than just gnash their false teeth?

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