Insight Articles

Our straight-talking articles and guides are designed to cut through charity professional industry jargon and answer your pertinent questions.

How to Build Long-Term Financial Sustainability

When we talk about sustainability, most people think of environmental responsibility. However, for charities s...

Ready to Master Fund Accounting?

Take the first step today and ensure your organisation is tracking its funds correctly and staying compli...

The Impact of FRS 102 Amendments on Charities SORP Compliance

The FRC has issued substantial amendments to FRS 102, that aim to ‘enhance the quality of UK financial reporti...

Financial Statements 101: What You Need to Know

Financial statements can seem overwhelming at first glance, especially when you’re running a charity or social...

‘Impact’ should be the be the beating heart of charity finance…not just a reporting requirement

When a word or phrase grows in popularity and is used with increased frequency, it becomes easy to assume that...

Tax for charity fundraisers made simple

Fundraising is the lifeblood of many charities. We encourage you to share this simple guide with your teams an...

The Unsung Heroes: Accountants Empowering Charities

In the world of social enterprises, charities, and not-for-profit organisations, the role of an accountant of...

What type of accounts does your charity need to prepare?

Beyond Profit Ltd What type of accounts does your charity need to prepare? This really depends on what type of...

How to raise funds for nonprofits and charities

At Moore Kingston Smith Nonprofit Advisory, we often work with nonprofits and charities that are facing changi...

Newsletter March 2024

This month our team have been talking about the tax implications of hybrid working as well as taking a deep di...

How can data help charities to support their beneficiaries?

Data is everywhere, in everything we do. But many of us don’t capture this data, let alone analyse it. By doin...

On our radar for 2024

As is traditional at the start of a new year, we’ve given some thought to what lies ahead and the likely impac...

What questions should boards ask when considering risk?

Effective risk management has never been so important. Risk processes have always been a vital part of any org...

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR ANNUAL REPORT FOR UK CHARITIES & NOT-FOR-PROFITS

Okay, so we all have to do an Annual Report. But, let's be real, it's not just about ticking off a checklist. ...

All You Need to Know About Charities and Taxes in the UK

The UK has acknowledged that the symbiotic relationship between charities and the tax system is a means o...

Trustee training

As a trustee, ensuring good governance is essential to the ongoing success of your charity. Our free trustee t...

Accounts for non-accountants

Being responsible for signing off your charity’s accounts can be daunting, especially if you’ve little experie...

How Can Charities Implement A Better Finance Function?

Are you fed up with jumbled-up bookkeeping for your finance? Chasing outstanding and missing pieces of paperwo...

How to Align Your Personal and Organisation Goals

Knowing how to set organisation goals and align them with personal goals can increase productivity, impact, a...

Why safeguarding could ensure your charity's future

Safeguarding was a relatively unknown topic a few years ago, barely mentioned outside of children’s and elderl...

7 Tips to Make Managing Expenses Easier

Managing your expenses is tremendously important for ensuring that your small business stays profitable and f...

Charity Matters January 2023

Welcome to Charity Matters RSM'S UPDATE FOR THE CHARITY SECTOR  Some boards (both corporate and charity) are p...

THE CHARITY FRAUD REPORT 2022: IS THE RISK OF FRAUD INCREASING IN THE CHARITY SECTOR?

Today, alongside the Fraud Advisory Panel, we launch the Charity Fraud Report 2022  – the findings from our an...

Newsletter December 2022

Read our latest newsletter HERE

ESG strategy for Social Purpose and Non Profit organisations

Social purpose and non profit organisations hold themselves to high ethical standards and are often held to a ...

Autumn Statement 2022 | Our partners respond

Autumn Statement 2022 The Chancellor kept the Conservative Party Manifesto commitment not to increase rates of...

Jargon Buster

Jargon bustersAccountants are known for using jargon that many people need to look up in a dictionary before ...

Common Questions Asked By Charities

Common questionsHere are answers to some most common questions that I have been asked by charities. Like, doe...

Newsletter November 2022

t’s time for Trustees Week 2022 and so we caught up with three members of our team to ask them what they get o...

Five steps for boards to optimise social impact

Delivering positive social impact is what all social ventures are focused on achieving – but it won't happen u...

Why should charities be more alert to fraud now?

Kaley Crossthwaite, Head of Fraud, BDO LLP In recent years charities have had to react to ever-increasing fina...

Fundraising in a recession: our top five tips

Sarah Coop, our new Fundraising Consultant, reflects on COVID-19, the current cost-of-living crisis and how sh...

Collaborative working made simple – the benefits of a joint approach for charities

Given the challenging economic environment, it is good practice for charities to regularly question the status...

Restricted & Unrestricted Funding

Hi, my name is Moragh and I run North West Numbers CIC which provides bookkeeping and accountancy services for...

Non Profits: Improving efficiency and productivity

Recent surveys carried out on the state of the charity sector show a fall in income, reserves and cashflows, w...

Charity Record Keeping & Accounting

In this and subsequent articles, I will simplify and demystify accounting terms and processes. Today I want t...

The employer’s guide to the four-day working week

Employers can use innovative ways of working that differentiate their organisation to engage their current wor...

Sayer Vincent July Newsletter

The latest Newsletter is HERE

Charity Matters June 22

RSM's latest charity matter can be viewed HERE

Sayer Vincent June Newsletter

Please find our latest newsletter HERE

The recipe for good financial governance

An effective charity is a well governed charity. In this blog we look at some of the challenges around good fi...

Collaborative working made simple

The pandemic has made many charities reconsider their ways of working. Are existing models the best ways of de...

From 6 April 2022 employees can produce digital fit notes

New regulations mean that from 6 April 2022 a new form of fit note is permitted for social security or statuto...

How to review your finance function

Mark Salway (Managing Director) and Marcus Lees-Millais (Manager, Financial Sustainability) from our Nonprofit...

What is the difference between donations, grants and fundraising?

As a charity, it’s important to know exactly where your sources of income come from.  In fact, having this lev...

Charity Matters Update

RSM's latest charity matter can be viewed HERE

Charities Alert Winter 2021

Our newsletter provides an update on the latest charity news and key announcements that you may need to act on...

Charity strategy and impact report 2021 - What does a good strategy look like?

Effective strategy-setting makes it clear exactly what a charity is trying to achieve, and whether or not it h...

The need for volunteers in the charity sector

Volunteering isn’t just great for charities, it’s beneficial to the individual too. Research from the Ins...

Explaining VAT Exemptions

Guest post by Les Howard of vatadvice.orgThere are six VAT exempt ‘Groups’ which specifically apply to th...

Happy 4th Birthday! 6(ish) lessons I've learned along the way Happy 4th Birthday! 6(ish) lessons I’ve learned along the way

My dream was to set up a business and help small UK charities. And despite the wraith of Covid-19, which decim...

The first rule of VAT for charities – assume nothing!

Guest post by Les Howard of vatadvice.orgIt is often said that the first rule of VAT is to assume nothing...

Why you shouldn’t set up a charity

Most charities are set up with the best of intentions – often in memorial for a loved one, to support a need i...

Sayer Vincent Newsletter

We’ve a bit to catch up on – so we have a bumper edition of the SV newsletter including court decisions on Kid...

7 inspirational stories our world needs more of

While I’m passionate about charities and the important work they do, it’s specifically newly established, smal...

Rising Girl, the story so far…

Guest Post by Emb Hashmi, Award winning Journalist at BBC , Podcast Host and Social Entrepreneur.Rising Girl&n...

How Hallidays can help your charity

With over 175 years’ experience and 50 charity clients we’re the people to help you in this difficult financia...

Engaging sponsors for your small UK charity

There are two types of sponsors that every charity needs to engage if they are to thrive. The first are sponso...

What makes a good annual report for your small UK charity?

We’re coming up to the time of the year that most charities dread – time to prepare the annual accounts and th...

How to form the most effective board for your charity

“Charities are the eyes, ears and conscience of society. They mobilise, they provide, they inspire, they ...

What you can learn from EmployabilityUK’s digital transformation

There’s no denying that lockdown has hit us hard. According to research from the Institute of Fundraising...

The UK’s biggest charities’ free reserves were falling even before the COVID-19 pandemic

This is the key finding of our third Charity reserves review. On average, charities were found to hold just tw...

Why every charity needs to embrace cloud-based accounting

Finance should never be a standalone function. Its primary purpose is to support the whole charity – not just ...

What to expect when you're having your audit remotely

Due to current social distancing restrictions, everyone is required to work from home wherever possible. This ...