tpp finance breakfast seminar

TPP Finance Seminar4th July 2017

Finance Salary Survey

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Judith Miller

Partner, Sayer Vincent

TPP

4 July 2017

Compliance & communication Conveying impact through your annual report

Critically important: Trust & confidence

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Achieving your objectives….

• Who is your audience?

• Who are your stakeholders?

• What’s your message to them?

• What do they care about?

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Transparency …Honesty…

“tell the charity’s story in a fair and balanced

manner, acknowledging both significant successes

and failures”

(FRS 102 SORP 2015)

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Obligation to Opportunity

• Key requirements

• Who is your audience?

• Good examples

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Overview & purpose ref : FRS 102 SORP 2015

• “ensure the charity is publicly accountable”

• “should be a fair, balanced and understandable

review”

• “what the charity is set up to do, how it is

going about it and what is achieved”

• “essential link between…legal purposes…aims

and objectives …activities”

Who is your audience?

Public,

beneficiaries

Donors/funders

Trustees, management

Regulator

Performance, delivery, summary

Technical, compliance

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Head and/or Heart

• Are you

looking to comply and satisfy the regulators?

looking for support and engagement? financially or with

time or…?

answering the “so what” question?

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Different vehicles• Trustees’ annual report & financial statements

Legal requirement

Black & white compliance version

Stand alone segments

• Annual review

Choice

A “glossy” – web or hard copy

Short & sweet with high level financials

• Impact report

Choice

Annual or ongoing snippets

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Process & people

• Who needs to be involved? Design team?

• What’s the timeline?

• Advisable – start early

• How does TAR & accounts fit within your

communications strategy?

• Hard copy? Soft copy?

SORP requirements for all charities

•Objectives and activities

• Structure, governance and management

• Achievements and performance

• Financial review

• Plans for the future

• Reference and admin details

Objectives and activities

• What are your objects? What do you do to achieve them?

• Explain public benefit

• Issues to be tackled and how this will deliver against legal objects

• Details of programmes, projects and activities

• Idea of short and longer term aims

• Use of volunteers

Structure, governance & management

•Nature of your governing document

•Methods of recruitment and appointment of trustees

•Organisational structure

•How decisions are made

• Trustee training and induction

• Remuneration policy

•Wider network

Achievements and performance

• Summary of main achievements

•Qualitative and quantitative information

• Performance against objectives

• Comment on fundraising performance

•What has contributed to performance –positive and negative?

•Measures and numerical targers

• Comment on investments

Financial review

• Review of the position at the year end and performance

• Reserves policy

• Any uncertainties around going concern – explain

• Subsidiaries and funds position –any in deficit – explain

• Answer any questions?

Financial review

• Principal risks and uncertainties

• Investment policy and objectives

• Financial effect of significant events

• Future factors that might affect performance

• Financial impact of pension liability

• Explain the policy for holding reserves

• State the amount of reserves held and why

• If trustees have decided that holding reserves

is unnecessary, the trustees’ report must

disclose this fact and provide reasons behind

the decision

Reserves disclosures - smaller charity

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• Amount of total funds held at year end

• Identify restricted funds & designated

• Indicate likely timing of designated funds expenditure

• Identify funds tied up in fixed assets

• State free reserves (unrestricted, undesignated, not fixed assets)

• Compare free reserves to reserves policy and explain

steps being taken to bring into line with policy

Reserves disclosures - larger charity

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“To be or not to be?”

• The “going concern” assumption

• Are we? How far ahead do we need to look?

• Are there any “material uncertainties”?

• What do we need to say/do?

• What does the auditor say/do?

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Content, context & communication• Focus on overall coherent document

• Place this year’s performance in the context of

your overall strategy - past, present, future

• Linkage to non financial stats too

• Stories & case studies

• Graphics

• Any order

• Linkage of key policies – reserves,

investments, grant making, risk

Report income and expenditure in line with

activities reported in the trustees’ annual report

• How charity has used resources to further its

charitable aims for public benefit

• Single document

• What are the key charitable activities?

Link trustees’ report and SoFA

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Seek out examples

• Those operating in a similar space

• Award winners eg PWC Building Public

Trust awards 2016

• CharityComms – comms perspective

Updated April 2017

• Other sectors: NAO Examples of good

practice in annual reports

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Source: BHF annual report

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Source: Water Aid annual report

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Source: Prostate Cancer UK annual report

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Source: National Autistic Society annual report

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Source: BHF annual report

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Source: National Autistic Society annual report

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Source: Dogs Trust annual report

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Source: Action against hearing loss annual report

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Source: BHF annual report

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Source: RNLI website annual report 2015/16

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Source: Action Against Hearing Loss annual report

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Source: Water Aid annual report

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Source: BHF annual report

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Source: Dogs Trust annual report

39Source: CRUK annual report 2015/16

40Source: CRUK annual report 2015/16

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Source: Dogs Trust annual report

42Source: CRUK annual report 2015/16

CharityComms – comms perspective

www.charitycomms.org.uk/articles/a-year-in-the-life

Charity Commission SORP microsite

www.charitysorp.org

Charity reporting and accounting: the essentials CC15d

Sayer Vincent www.sayervincent.co.uk

Reading charity accounts made simple

Reserves policies made simple

Beyond Reserves

SORP 2015 made simple

Signposting to resources

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Judith Miller

judith.miller@sayervincent.co.uk

Sayer Vincent LLP

www.sayervincent.co.uk/

www.twitter.com/sayervincent

@SV_JudithMiller

Questions?

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