OSCR invites views on charities accounts guidance

4th May 2016 | Charities

OSCR, the Scottish charities regulator, has combined with its counterpart south of the border to launch a research exercise on how to improve the current statement of recommended practice for preparing charity trustees' annual reports and accounts, known as SORP (FRS 102).

Billed as an opportunity to influence the future direction of charity reporting and accounting, the consultation invites views on:

  • the SORP’s structure, format and accessibility;
  • implementation issues that require improvements to the SORP;
  • SORP committee members’ suggestions for changes to the SORP; and
  • charity regulator themes for making changes to the SORP;

along with respondents' ideas for items to remove, change or add to improve the SORP.

It is anticipated that the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) will review the FRS 102 standard next year. The revised FRS 102 is anticipated to take effect from 2019. Any changes to the FRS 102 standard will in turn require a new SORP. The SORP research will therefore inform the development of the next exposure draft of the SORP. This is likely to be consulted on in 2018.

The present consultation closes for comment on 11 December 2016, an extended period intended to allow users of charity reports and accounts and users of the SORP every opportunity to take part and share their views.

Nigel Davies, head of accountancy services and joint chair of the SORP committee, said: “We hope that sector practitioners and users of the charity reports and accounts will take the opportunity to tells us about what needs improving and share with us their ideas or solutions. The FRC is committed to a more frequent cycle of reviewing the standards that make up UK-Irish Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, and now is a timely moment to feed in your ideas for change.”

Laura Anderson, head of enforcement at OSCR and joint chair of the SORP committee, added: “When we published the new SORPs in 2014 we sought to develop a reporting and accounting framework that serves four charity law jurisdictions, each with its own reporting traditions and needs. We look forward to gathering views across the UK and Ireland on how the SORP can serve the charity sector well for the future. Please take part in this shared endeavour to make the SORP the best it can be.”

The consultation document can be viewed via the dedicated SORP micro-site www.charitysorp.org. The SORP-making body anticipates that the results of the SORP research exercise will be published by mid-2017 on this micro-site.