As a charity CEO/founder, no doubt you wear a lot of hats all at the same time. Your charity’s finances often end up at the bottom of the ‘to-do’ pile, because you’re busy with fundraising, staff and volunteers, project delivery and ‘doing the work’ – and that is how it should be, after all no-one started a charity because they love the finances!
So, our charity-experienced team can support you by doing what WE love, so you can get on with doing what YOU love. 😊
FUND ACCOUNTING (Bookkeeping plus)
This is usually one of the tasks that everyone avoids doing for as long as possible – but we LOVE it. Working alongside you as part of your team, we’ll keep you on top of your charity finances by ensuring that all the ‘normal’ bookkeeping tasks (bank reconciliation, supplier invoices, etc.) are completed regularly and on time, even with regard to your specific fund accounting needs.
We can help you with the all-important data entry with funding allocations right through to full treasury management and payment of suppliers. This will be tailored to your charity’s circumstances and the budget you have available to invest.
Just think - how good will it feel to know that the numbers are all sorted, and you have that support in place? And that, when the time comes to report back to funders, the information is ready and at hand?
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION for TRUSTEES
Having the bookkeeping up-to-date is just part of the picture, of course. Trustees have a duty of governance to the charity and regular reporting is a key part of that governance.
We take the base information from the bookkeeping and turn it into a report that is relevant to your charity structure and can be understood by your Trustees at all levels. We tailor the reporting to exactly how you need it to be, so that you can make informed decisions with it, such as measuring performance against budget and cashflow planning. We provide analysis of the ‘golden nuggets’ your Trustees need to know and not the detail they don’t; management accounts in a format that means something.
PAYROLL
For one simple monthly fee, our ‘all included’ payroll service will take the stress away from you and your employees.
Our payroll service includes: processing, secure online portal for all employees to access their payroll documents and letters, HMRC real-time information submissions, auto-enrolment pension calculations and submissions, year-end P60 forms, and funding analysis ready for input to your bookkeeping system. And if we provide a Treasury function for you as part of the bookkeeping package, we will process the online payments to staff and HMRC on your behalf as well.
In addition, if you are just about to employ your first member of the team, we can help with setting up a PAYE and auto-enrolment pension scheme, and submitting your declaration of compliance to The Pensions Regulator on your behalf.
XERO SOFTWARE, SET-UP and TRAINING
We are a Xero practice which means we can offer you the right software for your charity bookkeeping, at the level that’s right for your size of organisation.
Our ‘Small Charity Xero Set-Up Package’ will get you set up and trained on Xero, with 3 bespoke reports created specifically for your charity structure and funders. By setting the structure up at this stage, you will be able to monitor your funding income and expenditure in real-time.
You can then decide if you’d like to do the bookkeeping yourself, or you’d like us to help you with it.
YEAR END (Partnered with day-to-day bookkeeping)
We can produce a set of accounts in line with the current SORP on your behalf and liaise directly with your Independent Examiner. So, all your Trustees need to do is write their annual report on the impact the charity has made.
We also have a range of Independent Examiners that we liaise with, so if you need help appointing one we can help with that too.
YEAR END (Independent Examination)
Even if you decide you don’t need help on a day-to-day basis with your accounts, as qualified accountants we are still able to help you by undertaking the Independent Examination of your charity accounts if your income is under £1 million, including preparing the accounts on your behalf.
Using the Charity Commission 13 Directives, we review the spending of funds to make sure that all transactions are in line with the objectives of the charity and the grant providers. We will also report back to the Trustees on any system weaknesses we identify and offer solutions to support you.
The Trustees Annual Report and Accounts are your ‘brochure’ to funders, and we help you get the most value out of what is often seen as just a ‘compliance’ task. We work out a timetable with you to ensure that the report is completed and ready to be received at your AGM.
OTHER SERVICES
Charity Chatter on Money Matters
Join our FREE monthly zoom call ‘Charity Chatter on Money Matters’ where you can ask questions and get support on everything related to your charity’s numbers. Register for the next one here: https://charitychatter.beestonclarke.co.uk/
Internal Controls/Systems Review
We can look at the controls you currently have in place and help you to make improvements – all moving towards best practice and good governance.
Newsletter
We send out a quarterly newsletter updating you on general finance matters, deadlines and information as well as charity-specific information. Sign up for the newsletter here: Newsletter sign up
