Annual Reporting Compliance Checklist

Every charity on the Register of Charities must complete and file an online annual report with the Charities Regulator within 10 months of their financial year end, as required by section 52 of the Charities Act 2009 (“the Act”). Failure to do so is an offence under the Act for the charity and its charity trustees. Yet, despite this, a number of charities do not file on time.?

Over 1700 charities that were late filing annual reports were contacted by the Charities Regulator under the programme. The Compliance and Enforcement unit is continuing to engage with a number of organisations to bring them into compliance voluntarily. However, further prosecutions and /or removal of charities from the Register of Charities may follow in the coming months.

“In the interests of the public and out of fairness to the majority of charities that submit their annual reports on time each year, we signalled to the sector that we would deal decisively with those charities that have repeatedly failed to file annual reports in a timely manner,” Helen Martin, Chief Executive stated.

Getting ready to file your 2023 report on time

While financial years can vary, the financial year for many charities is the same as the calendar year, running from 1 January to 31 December, so the deadline for submitting their annual report on their finances and activities to the Charities Regulator for 2023 will be 31 October 2024.

There are a number of steps to be completed before a charity will be ready to submit its annual report. As a guidance, we have created a checklist including the typical steps with suggested timings for smaller charities whose annual report is due on or before 31 October each year. The timings can be adapted for charities with different filing deadlines or board meeting frequencies.

?And remember, a charity can always file its annual report early at any time before the deadline, but it is an offence to file late.

The Charities Regulator’s website has a dedicated section on annual reporting including step-by-step guides to help charities submit their online report.?