MyCIMA

Charity Accounts, how much to charge

Posted: Friday 12 February 2010 by Steve
Replies : 4

I have been asked to do a Indepentent Examination of a charity accounts, which by their words are in a complete and utter mess,

How much do people charge for this service?

Many Thanks

 

Charity Accounts, how much to charge

Posted by Simon Gardner on Saturday 13 February 2010 13:21

Surely you can't carry out and Independent Examination until the all the account accounting records are fully written up and you have a final set of accounts to examine.

So your charge will depend on whether you are just carrying out the examination or writing up the records and preparing the accounts as well.

If you're doing all the bookkeeping and preparing the accounts I would charge as per a normal business based on time/income depending on how you normally calculate your charges.

If you are just carrying out the examination (once the accounts are prepared), you need to assess the time it will take you based on the complexity of the charity's affairs. If this is difficult or you don't want to give them a fixed price, charge and hourly rate.

Couple of complications here...

Posted by Adrian Rutter on Sunday 14 February 2010 10:12

Steve, apologies if you already know this, but Charity Commission guidance leaflet CC32 'Independent Examination of Charity Accounts: An Examiner's Guide' says "An independent examiner as described in section 43(3)(a) of the 1993 Act is “an independent person who is reasonably believed by the charity trustees to have the requisite ability and practical experience to carry out a competent examination of the accounts”. It goes on to say "An examiner cannot independently review his or her own work and so the person who is the charity’s book-keeper cannot be the charity’s examiner".

So if you have to write up the books and records to any great extent, you probably wouldn't then be able to do the IE. If you haven't already seen CC32, there's some useful info there about who's eligible to be an Independent Examiner, money laundering and professional indemnity requirements, etc.

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publications/cc32.asp#4

(It sounds like the trustees of the charity could usefully read leaflet CC3 "The Essential Trustee: What you need to know" as they seemed to have missed out on their duty to keep proper books and records.)

CHARITY PRICE AT HEART

Posted by Goh Pei Loong on Thursday 11 March 2010 01:05

Dear Accounts doer,

Pricing of accounting work for charitable organisation:-

( 1 ) FOC if you are bona fide.

( 2 ) 0.1% of the income received by the charitable organisation.

( 3 ) 10% of the funds available at the financial year-end.

( 4 ) Price/report required or work complexity charges based on your charges per hour.

   

 

How much to charge?

Posted by Alistair Taylor on Friday 12 March 2010 14:43

Steve,

Our local beancounter charges us £450 for a charity with around £30k income and an excellent set of records.   There is nothing for him to do except confirm the vouchers.

 

I assume that you are a Member in Practice?  Otherwise you might be opening yourself up to problems.