News
OSCR appoints new Board members
OSCR welcomed three new members to its Board in June. Fiona Ballantyne, David Hughes Hallett and Oscar Mendoza were appointed by Ministers in accordance with the code of practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland. The new members bring a range of relevant experience of the charity sector and will serve for a four year period to June 2012. Further information about the new Board members is available here
Governance Research in the Third Sector in Scotland
The Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations (ACOSVO) supported by The Scottish Government, OSCR and Supporting Voluntary Action/SCVO are working in partnership to commission governance research in the Third Sector in Scotland. This collaborative effort is an attempt to capture and explore the particular characteristics of Board members, Chairs and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of organisations in the sector. The research will be carried out by Cranfield University and aims to provide insights into governance and leadership within the Third Sector in Scotland and link to cross-sectoral findings from Cranfield's previous research across all public services. It will also help to identify good leadership and governance practice.
Each of the partners in the research project offers complementary perspectives contributing to the development of a survey, and are interested in the findings contributing to their ongoing research and policy agendas. In addition to providing a snapshot of the characteristics of organisations, Boards, Chairs and CEOs, the survey will touch on issues related to:
- recruitment, selection, induction, training and appraisal of Board members
- ethos, culture and context of organisations
- effectiveness of governance.
The research is being co-ordinated by ACOSVO on behalf of the partners and will contribute to Cranfield's global research on governance in order to provide a comparative analysis from across public service sectors. The research meets the partners' interests in compliance, collaborative processes, scope and effectiveness of different types of third sector organisations, and the roles and responsibilities of the CEOs and Chairs.
Members of Boards, Directors and CEOs of Scottish Third Sector organisations are invited to complete the survey when it is launched in August. Further information and a link to the survey will be available soon on the OSCR website http://www.oscr.org.uk/
Results of the research will be published in early 2009. Please contact ACOSVO at policy@acosvo.org.uk or at 0131 243 2755 with your questions or comments.
OSCR Themed Studies
The OSCR Monitoring Team is currently involved in two themed studies which will lead to online publications in the coming months. The publications will cover:
- accounting compliance where the gross income is less than £25,000, and
- accounting compliance where fully accrued accounts have to be produced in accordance with "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (revised 2005) [SORP 2005].
Gross income less than £25,000
In March 2007 OSCR undertook a thematic study of 300 charities selected at random, using as a population those Annual Returns which had passed the second validation stage, where the gross income was less than £25,000. The results of this were not published although the findings were referred to on various public platforms. These accounts were examined for compliance to the Charity Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 1992. It has now been agreed to re-examine the same charities for compliance with the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. By adopting this approach it is felt that a greater indication of any improvement levels will be available.
Unfortunately for various reasons only accounts for 252 charities from the original sample were available to allow a comparison year on year to be made. The initial indications from the fieldwork are positive.
SORP accounts
Fully accrued accounts are required (under the provisions of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006) if:
- the gross income of the charity is at least £100,000
- the charity is a charitable company
- the governing document of the individual charity requires accrued accounts to be produced.
The study will assist OSCR in relation to:
- understanding where the sector is in terms of compliance with SORP
- its ability to reflect compliance levels to the sector and the accountancy profession
- its role as joint SORP making body with the Charity Commission to inform the development of SORP
- working with professional advisors
- its role in developing effective guidance and training.
OSCR - joint working arrangements
Over the past two years OSCR has been working with other regulators to establish Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). These MOU's set out how we will work and share information with other regulators and relevant bodies. To date we have ten MOUs with:
- Scottish Housing Regulator - formally Communities Scotland
- Care Commission
- Charity Commission
- Scottish Funding Council
- HMRC
- Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
- Fundraising Standards Board
- Crown Office
- Community Interest Companies Regulator
- Financial Services Regulator.
The aim of the MOU's is to reduce the regulatory burden. Details of the MOU's are available here
If you have any comments about the MOU's please contact OSCR on 01382 220446 or email info@oscr.org.uk
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Recent Publications
OSCR survey summary
OSCR carried out its second survey of the public and Scottish charities in April. The surveys were issued to representative samples of 1,000 Scottish charities and 10,000 Scottish households.
The surveys were used to track awareness of and attitudes to, key issues affecting the charity sector and its regulation.
A summary of the survey findings is available here
Scottish Charities 2008
Scottish Charities 2008 was published in early July. This comprehensive profile of the sector contains analysis of data collected through the annual monitoring process. The profile builds on the benchmarks established in OSCR's earlier profile Scottish Charities 2005 and provides insight into the charity sector in Scotland, its activities, its beneficiaries and income and operating trends on a national and regional basis.
Download a copy of Scottish Charities 2008 here
Corporate Plan 2007-10 update
In 2007 OSCR published its first three year corporate plan covering the period 2007-10. The plan has been reviewed and updated in light of our first year experience. Read a copy of the updated plan here
Publication schedule updated
OSCR has updated its schedule for planned publications during 2008/09. Read a copy of the updated schedule here
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Website features
New website features
Visitors to OSCR's website are now able to benefit from a number of added features, including:
- improved searching
- description tags for links and images
- home page banner return.
Forthcoming Events
Meet the Regulator Roadshows
The half day training events are aimed at charity trustee administrators of smaller charities (with an income less than £100,000).The events will cover compliance issues including charity accounting, consents and notifications and charity trustee duties. Please click on the dates below to book your place:
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Have your charity's details changed?
Charities have a duty to inform OSCR about the following changes no later than three months after the change has taken place.
You should tell us when:
- the Principal Contact changes
- the contact details of the existing Principal Contact changes
- the accounting year end date has changed
- changes unrelated to purposes are made to the constitution
- when any change consented to by OSCR is implemented.
For more information on when you should contact OSCR please read our contact OSCR postcard.
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