As we approach the end of the financial year, it is time to prepare the accounts for examination.

You can make your yearly audit as painless as possible by making certain that your financial statements are complete and accurate.

The most crucial step towards this is Bank Reconciliation.

Most adjustments that are discovered during audit relate to inadequate or inaccurate preparation of the Bank Reconciliation process.

This process is thoroughly explained in our book ‘The Adventures of Mr Claw in the World of Charity Accounting’.  If you would like a copy, please contact us here

We all safeguard our Charity’s bank account by having authorised signatories when issuing cheques, but what happens when a payment is made electronically?

Some banks offer a service whereby one authorised person logs into the account and sets up a payment, then a second authorised person logs into the account with a different password to authorise the payment.

However, we have recently seen an ‘in house’ form which has been produced, whereby the authorised signatories can sign to verify the electronic transaction. This seems a much more straightforward way of safeguarding the account – and also may avoid further bank charges!

If you would like further information about this, please contact us here

Salary Sacrifice allows some employers and employees to pay less Income Tax and NICs by replacing cash salary with Benefits In Kind (BiKs) – such as private healthcare, mobile phone, a company car, a gym membership

The measure will limit the Income Tax and employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) advantages where BiKs are offered through salary sacrifice or where the employee can choose between cash allowances and BiKs.  Salary sacrifice is a contractual arrangement between an employee and their employer involving a reduction of an employee’s cash pay in return for a BiK, such as a phone or a car.  For some BiKs the value used for calculating tax and NICs liability is less than the amount of the cash pay forgone, allowing the employee and employer to choose to pay less tax and NICs than they would otherwise. The measure will fix the taxable value of those BiKs provided through salary sacrifice at the higher of the amount of cash forgone or the amount calculated under the existing BiK rules.

There will be no change to the tax and NICs advantages of salary sacrifice arrangements for:pension saving into a registered pension scheme, employer provided pensions advice, employer-supported childcare, cycle to work schemes or Ultra Low Emission Cars (ULEVs).  Further, those already in contracts for BiKs involving salary sacrifice will be protected for the length of that contract, subject to final backstop dates.

You can find more detailed information here