# Trustee mismanagement led to poor financial governance at Al-Hassan Education Centre

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/02/01/trustee-mismanagement-led-poor-financial-governance-al-hassan-education-centre/
- Published: 2017-02-01T09:00:08+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**A Charity Commission investigation into [Al-Hassan Education Centre](http://alhassan.org.uk/)
in Leeds regarding repeated late filing of accounts has concluded that trustees 
mismanaged the charity.**

According to its inquiry report, the Commission uncovered inadequate financial governance
at the charity and that the trustees were not able to fully account for the charity’s
funds in relation to cash collections and charitable expenditure. The charity also
failed to submit accounting information for the financial years ending 31 March 
2012 and 31 March 2013.

Wider governance failures within the charity were also uncovered, whereby the trustees
were not adhering to some of the provisions within their governing document including:
failure to hold Annual General Meetings since July 2013 or the required two trustee
meetings a year and that they had no policies for loans and money laundering. The
regulator also concluded there had been mismanagement by the trustees due to a lack
of financial controls in relation to cash collected and spent following Friday prayers,
and a lack of up-to-date policies and procedures.

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The inquiry considered that the trustees had not acted in the best interests of 
the charity, put the charity’s funds at risk and concluded there was mismanagement
and misconduct by the trustees.

The Commission issued an Order last November under the Charities Act requiring the
trustees to take certain actions to regularise the charity’s governance, submit 
its outstanding accounting information and review its policies. The trustees have
already taken steps to complete the actions, and the Commission states that it will
continue to monitor the charity to ensure that its order is complied with.

Carl Mehta, head of investigations, enforcement at the Charity Commission, said:

> “The trustees in this case failed to take basic steps to ensure that the charity’s
> funds were able to be accounted for. This is simply not acceptable and I expect
> the trustees to take measures to speedily correct this.”
> “For many faith groups, collecting funds in cash is likely to be a regular occurrence
> as part of worship or devotion. Charities must ensure that they have in place 
> effective and proper financial controls to ensure those funds are safeguarded.”

 * **[Governance Code consultation ends with Charity Commission proposal to withdraw CC10 in response to overhaul](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/02/16/governance-code-consultation-ends-charity-commission-proposal-withdraw-cc10-response-overhaul/)**(
   16 February 2017)
 * **[Implications of Ilott v Mitson on charities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/04/26/implications-ilott-v-mitson-charities/)**(
   26 April 2017)
 * **[New guidelines on financial governance for trustees published](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/05/15/new-guidelines-financial-governance-trustees-published/)**(
   15 May 2017)

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