Irish Charities – Accounting and Auditing Update

Part 15 of the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 is proposing to make amendments to the Charities Act 2009, which would allow the Charity Regulatory Authority (CRA) to introduce additional financial reporting requirements for CRA-registered charities. Such reporting requirements would be size-dependent, and follow on from a public consultation held.

The Bill proposes the following:

• charities, including charitable companies, with income of over €250,000 per annum will have to prepare financial statements in accordance with the charity SORP: “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK & Republic of Ireland”;
• charities, including charitable companies, that meet the above criteria would have to have a full statutory audit carried out on those financial statements;
• charities, that are not charitable companies, whose income falls between €25,000 and €250,000, will be permitted to prepare their accounts on a “cash receipts basis”. They will be able to avail of an independent review; the definition of such a review is included within the draft regulations; and
• charities will not be required to file financial statements with the CRA if their income is below €25,000 per annum.

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