Over 1,800 charities to submit their accounts before end of January

With a major annual reporting deadline just a week away, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is urging all registered charities to submit their return on time!

Every registered charity in Northern Ireland must provide information on their annual accounts and activities to the charity regulator within ten months of their financial ‘year end’ date.

And, with 31 March 2018 having marked the financial year end for many charities, this means that 31 January will be a peak period for the Commission with over 1,800 registered charities due to submit by that date.

“Not submitting annual accounts on time can have a reputational impact on a charity – it is clearly marked on the public register where a charity has submitted late or has gone into default (failed to submit),” advised the Commission’s Monitoring & Compliance Manager, Fiona Muldoon.

“Not only has a default status flagged the charity up as a concern to the Commission’s enquiries team in the past, but it may also raise queries amongst the charity’s supporters, funders and others

“Annual reporting is a vital step towards a growing openness and transparency of the charity sector, and I would urge all charities due to submit by 31 January not to leave it any longer – with just over a week to go, time is running out!”

The 31 January 2019 is a deadline for 1,857 registered charities. Of that number, around 750 charities had already submitted their accounts by 21 January 2019 with around 1,000 charities still to submit on or before deadline.

It is the collective responsibility of every charity trustee to ensure the charity’s annual return, including the annual accounts and trustees’ report, for the financial year, are submitted to the Commission on time and in the correct format.

The Commission makes copies of accounts and reports submitted by registered charities publicly available on each charity’s register entry, marking whether the charity is ‘up to date’, has ‘submitted late’ or is ‘in default’.

For information on how to submit your charity’s annual information, please click here.

Charities which are over six months in default are also highlighted on a regularly updated list, which is available on the Commission’s website here.

Ends

For more information please contact Shirley Kernan, Charity Commission for Northern Ireland Communications Officer, on tel: 028 3832 0169 or email: shirley.kernan@charitycommissionni.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is the independent regulator of charities in Northern Ireland, established under the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008.

A non-departmental public body, the Commission is sponsored by the Department for Communities and has a number of legal functions where it uses powers similar to those of the High Court.