Charity audit

As a charity or social enterprise, you may well face complex regulation and accounting requirements. You need to comply with the charity SORP, Companies Act and trading rules as well as gift aid, VAT and payroll taxes. You may have specific reporting requirements for grants. At Sayer Vincent, we understand that it all needs to come together and your audit team will help you with the whole picture. You will get regular updates and advice included in the service, as well as extra support when you need it.

Our audit starts by seeking to understand what you do and getting to know the risks and challenges you face through a meeting and our own research. From this we develop a risk-based audit programme to focus on the things that matter. We meet with you to plan the work needed, agree the timetable and provide your staff with help to prepare for the audit. We’ll meet with you after our on-site audit to discuss the findings and our draft post-audit report. Our report is prepared for the trustees and provides them with an overview of the end of year accounts, recommendations for improvements to governance or systems and flags emerging issues that might need attention in the coming year. Support for your staff included in the audit:

Planning meeting – flag up issues early
Audit preparation checklist to help staff get ready for the year end
Your accounts in an easy-to-use Excel template with prior year figures
Review of the presentation and layout of accounts at the planning stage with suggestions for changes
Free one-day training course for staff in the preparation of charity accounts
Access to advice and support during the preparatory period
Free monthly newsletters to keep you abreast of news and developments
Free seminars and updates

“Sayer Vincent has provided the Nationwide Foundation with excellent audit services for four years. They are accessible and friendly, whilst being thorough and professional. The firm genuinely understands the requirements and challenges of reporting from a grant making perspective and has helped us to improve how we report. The firm provides very good value for money and offers excellent training courses, as part of their service. They are a pleasure to work with and I recommend them."

Lisa Suchet, Chief Executive, The Nationwide Foundation

We work closely with the finance team to make sure that there are no dramas, planning in advance to get the audit smoothly out of the way so that you can get on with the rest of business as usual.