Four more charities found to have been in breach of their legal obligations to file accounting information with the Charity Commission offered excuses such as staff absences, public holidays and waiting for information from accountants, when chased by the Commission.
The Commission today published inquiry reports into the four charities, all of which were caught by the regulator’s ‘double-defaulters’ class inquiry, which covers all charities that last reported income of at least £250,000 and have not filed accounts for more than two of the last five years.
The four charities were:
- Haringey Education Business Partnership Ltd
- First Asian Support Trust (FAST) Ltd
- Newcastle Central Mosque Masjid Al-Tawhid
- Sheffield Reclamation Ltd
All four were found to be in breach of their legal duties and therefore guilty of mismanagement and misconduct. They were issued with orders to provide bank records and financial information to the Commission, and trustees were directed to supply the missing accounts. All have now provided the relevant documentation and so have been removed from the class inquiry.
The reports include the responses from the trustees of some of the charities about why the accounts were submitted late. Staff absences, public holidays and waiting for information from accountants were offered as the reasons.
The Commission pointed out to them that even if reporting responsibilities are given to professional advisers, ensuring the accounts are submitted on time remains the legal duty of the trustees.
As a result of the Commission’s class inquiry, 64 sets of accounts have been filed by those charities no longer part of it, resulting in over £42m of charitable funds now being accounted for on the public Register of Charities.
