# Almost 40% of small charities providing inaccurate financial information

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/09/26/almost-40-small-charities-providing-inaccurate-financial-information/
- Published: 2018-09-26T09:00:08+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**A report by the Charity Commission has shown that 38% of small charities are providing
inaccurate financial information in their financial returns.**

 

The [Charity Commission](https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission)
[checked the accuracy](http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accounts-monitoring-review-assessing-the-standard-of-charity-financial-information)
of financial information provided by a sample of charities in their annual returns
by comparing it with their accounts. 38% of a sample of charities with incomes below
£25,000 per annum were found to be submitting inaccurate data, while in the sample
of charities with incomes over £25,000, income and expenditure figures were 90% 
accurate.

## Advertisement

 

Small charities make up two thirds of all charities on the register with basic information
on income and expenditure the only financial information most are routinely required
to provide to the Commission.

 

Larger charities with incomes over £500,000 must provide more information. In its
sample, the Commission found a 95% accuracy rate for their balance sheet figures,
while income and expenditure analyses were just over 80% accurate.

 

The Charity Commission has concluded that many charities are tasking people with
insufficient knowledge of their organisation’s accounts with completing annual return
figures, resulting in errors.

 

Nigel Davies, Head of Accountancy Services at The Charity Commission, said:

 

> “Not providing accurate financial information is misleading and can have an impact
> on public trust. People want to know how charities spend their money; so this 
> result is clearly not good enough.”

 * **[Too many charities failing to show public benefit in reports, says Commission](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/12/21/many-charities-failing-show-public-benefit-reports-says-commission/)**(
   21 December 2018)
 * **[Fundraising Regulator publishes guidance to help with Charities Act reporting requirements](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/01/15/fundraising-regulator-publishes-guidance-to-help-with-charities-act-reporting-requirements/)**(
   15 January 2020)
 * **[Only 4 in 10 annual reports include statement on monitoring third-party fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/09/14/only-4-in-10-annual-reports-include-statement-on-monitoring-third-party-fundraising/)**(
   14 September 2020)

![Loading](https://fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/page-views-count/ajax-loader-
2x.gif)