BDO has launched an independent cross-discipline 'shadow' committee of charity experts, professional advisers, commercial organisations and academics which will track progress on development of a new Statement of Recommended Practices (SORP) for the charity sector.
The official SORP Committee, which includes representatives from the Charity Commission, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, sector finance directors and auditors, has completed the development of a new Exposure Draft SORP which provides guidance to charities applying FRS 102. This is expected to be issued for public comment for four months from July, and is set to introduce the most significant change to financial reporting in the sector for a decade.
Don Bawtree, head of charities at BDO and chair of the shadow SORP committee, said: 'The new SORP will have far reaching effects on how charities present financial information and how stakeholders perceive the sector. The shadow committee therefore has an important role to play in scrutinising the proposals and helping to ensure that the regulations fulfil their objectives.'
Members of the shadow SORP committee include the Nuffield Foundation's finance director, James Brooke Turner; Gary Carpenter, CFO of Control Risks Group; Gareth Morgan who is Professor of Charity Studies at Sheffield Hallam University; Paul Bannon, finance director of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland; Charles Scott, executive director of corporate shared services at Action for Children; and Julian Smith, s head of the higher education group at Farrers.
As Scotland has a different regime, a separate group has been established by in Scotland, led by BDO partner Martin Gill.
'We strongly encourage everyone involved in the charity sector to contribute to the shadow committee. Our objective is to provide the opportunity for a balanced response reflecting no single agenda,' Bawtree said.
Anyone wishing to contribute to the shadow committee, or wanting to be more closely involved, should contact Don Bawtree at [email protected].
