The membership of the SORP committee will be reviewed after researcher Joe Saxton resigned in protest at the lack of transparency in charity accounts.
The SORP committee sets the Statement of Recommended Practice, the rules governing charity accounts. Saxton stepped down in the autumn and criticised its composition and approach.
He said recently that “while SORP says its primary stakeholders are the public and donors, its mechanisms have been captured by charity finance professionals”.
He said that the committee was "technical and full of jargon" and that as a result of its focus, charity accounts are not “transparent and accessible so that donors and the public can easily find out the information they are after”. He called for a “fundamental change” in how information is presented.
In the latest minutes of the SORP committee, the chair said that the Charity Commission and OSCR, the Scottish charity regulator, who between them form the “joint SORP-making body”, intended to “review the governance processes for developing the SORP, including membership of the committee”.
The SORP committee is currently jointly chaired by Nigel Davies, head of accountancy services at the Commission, and Laura Anderson, head of professional advice and intelligence at OSCR. Its members are mostly charity finance directors, senior figures in infrastructure bodies, and representatives of accountancy firms.
The decision has been prompted by Saxton’s resignation, and his feedback about the need for a greater focus on end users.
“The chairs had tentatively concluded that there was merit in revisiting the composition of the committee and the SORP-making process to determine how it could ensure effective participation from this key stakeholder group,” the minutes said.
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