Accountants for charities
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Charity accounting is not ordinary accounting with a different logo on the front. It is a genuinely different discipline, and getting it wrong is easy if the person doing it has not done it before.
Restricted and unrestricted funds have to be tracked separately, every transaction coded to the right one. Grant income has to be recognised in the right period against the right conditions. Donated goods and volunteer time have their own treatment. And from 2026 the rulebook itself, the Charities SORP, has changed.
We specialise in this. We prepare charity accounts to the SORP, we act as independent examiners, and we do the fund bookkeeping underneath. And unlike most small practices, we are on the statutory list of bodies whose members are allowed to examine charity accounts, which matters more than most trustees realise, and we will explain why below.
Why a charity needs a specialist, not just any accountant
Most accountants are perfectly good at company accounts and have barely touched a charity. That is not a criticism, it is just how the work divides. But charity accounting has rules a general practice does not meet every day, and the mistakes are not obvious until it is too late.
- Fund accounting. Money given for a specific purpose (a restricted fund) cannot be mixed with general funds, and it has to be shown separately in the accounts. Get the coding wrong during the year and no amount of cleverness at year end will unpick it.
- Income recognition. When you recognise a grant or a donation depends on the conditions attached. The new SORP has changed the rules here, and telling exchange from non-exchange transactions apart is where it catches people out.
- The Charities SORP itself. It is a substantial document, it changed for 2026, and accounts that do not follow it can be rejected or queried by the Commission.
- The Trustees' Annual Report. Not arithmetic, but a real piece of work with its own requirements, now including reserves, plans and impact.
If your current accountant does your charity "as a favour" alongside their company clients, this is worth a second look.
The one thing most trustees do not know: who is allowed to examine your accounts
Once a charity's income passes a certain level, the law says the person who examines its accounts must be a member of one of a named list of accountancy bodies in the Charities Act. Not just any accountant. A specific statutory list.
The Association of International Accountants is on that list. We hold an AIA practising certificate, so we are eligible to act as your independent examiner.
Most small local practices are not on that list. It is not about competence, it is about which body an accountant belongs to. So a charity that grows past the threshold sometimes discovers its long-standing accountant is no longer allowed to sign off its accounts, and has to find someone who is.
We are someone who is. And the thresholds that decide all of this are changing in 2026, we have written up exactly what changes and when, including a change that lets some audited charities move to a cheaper independent examination.
What we do for charities
Three things, and you can have any of them, with one rule we will be straight about.
1. Independent examination
Where your income requires external scrutiny but not a full audit, we carry out the independent examination and provide the examiner's report. It is a lighter, narrower and cheaper check than an audit, and for most charities under the audit threshold it is exactly what the law requires. More on independent examination →
2. Charity accounts and the Trustees' Annual Report
We prepare your annual accounts to the Charities SORP 2026, including the new income recognition and lease treatment, and help with the Trustees' Annual Report. Whether you prepare receipts and payments or full accruals accounts, we produce something the Commission will accept and your trustees can understand.
3. Day-to-day bookkeeping and fund accounting
The one most small charities actually need most. Proper fund accounting through the year, so restricted and unrestricted money is tracked correctly from the start, VAT and payroll handled if you have them, and management accounts for your trustee meetings. Get this right and the year end looks after itself.
The one rule: we cannot do everything
If we keep your books, we cannot also be your independent examiner. That is the independence rule, and it is absolute. An examiner cannot maintain the records they are examining.
So you choose: we run your finances, and someone else examines (we will help you find a qualified examiner and hand them a clean file), or we are your examiner and someone else keeps the books. We will tell you which side of that line a piece of work falls on before you take us on, not after. Any firm that offers to do both should worry you.
Who we work with
Manchester and Greater Manchester have a large charity sector that is not well served, because the firms qualified for the work tend to chase bigger clients, and the firms that would like the work often are not on the statutory list.
We work with:
- Small and medium registered charities
- Mosques, churches and faith organisations
- Community groups and associations
- CICs (which are not charities and have their own regime, but often think they are, we will tell you which rules you are actually under)
- Grant-funded organisations juggling multiple restricted funds
If you are a trustee doing the finances yourself on a spreadsheet, you are exactly who we help. It is not a fair thing to have landed on a volunteer, and the personal responsibility that comes with it is real.
What it costs
We price charity work honestly, on the actual work involved, and we agree the fee before we start. Charity fees depend on your income, whether you prepare receipts and payments or accruals accounts, how many restricted funds you run, and the state of your records. Clean records make it cheaper, and that is simply true rather than a sales line.
We do not do "charity rates." The regulators themselves treat proper examiner and accountancy fees as a legitimate cost of good governance. What we do is charity-appropriate scope: the right level of work for your size and complexity, and nothing you do not need.
Charity accountants: frequently asked questions
Do we need a specialist charity accountant?+
If your charity prepares accruals accounts under the SORP, has restricted funds, or is near the level where a qualified examiner is required, then yes, it pays to use someone who does charity work regularly. Charity accounting has rules a general practice does not meet day to day, and the mistakes tend to surface too late to fix cheaply.
Are you allowed to examine our charity's accounts?+
Yes. Once a charity's income passes a certain threshold, its examiner must belong to one of the accountancy bodies named in the Charities Act. The Association of International Accountants is on that list and we hold a practising certificate, so we are eligible to act. Many small practices are not.
Can you be our accountant and our independent examiner?+
No, not both. If we keep your books we cannot examine your accounts, because an examiner must be independent of the records. We can either run your finance function or be your examiner, and we will tell you which side of the line any work falls on before you engage us.
Do you do charity bookkeeping, or only the year end?+
Both, but the bookkeeping is where we add the most value. Charity fund accounting is genuinely different from business bookkeeping, and getting it right through the year is what makes everything else straightforward. If we keep your books, an examiner elsewhere signs off your accounts.
What is changing for charities in 2026?+
Quite a lot. The accounts thresholds change from 30 September 2026, and the new Charities SORP applies to 2026 year ends. We have written up exactly what changes, when, and who it affects, including a change that lets some audited charities switch to a cheaper independent examination.
We are a CIC / a mosque / a small community group. Do you work with organisations like us?+
Yes. We work across the sector, including faith organisations, community groups and CICs. CICs are not charities and have their own rules, which catches people out, so tell us what you are and we will tell you which regime you are actually under.
How much does it cost?+
It depends on your income, whether you prepare receipts and payments or accruals accounts, how many restricted funds you have, and the state of your records. We agree a fixed fee before we start, and we will tell you honestly if something is not worth doing.
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Talk to a charity specialist
Tell us your income and how you keep your books, and we will tell you exactly what we can do and what it costs. We are on the Charities Act list and can act as your independent examiner.