皇冠体育app

In an official report, the Commission has concluded the trustees of a Birmingham based charity are responsible for misconduct and/or mismanagement, over financial and governance oversights.

One Community Organisation was registered as a charity in 2009 and organises events and education programmes for the deaf/blind and special educational needs community.

皇冠体育app inquiry found that the trustees had agreed that the chair of trustees would make payments on behalf of the charity using his own bank account because the charity didn鈥檛 have its own bank card. However, the chair would reimburse himself without the supervision or authorisation of another trustee. 皇冠体育app trustees鈥� poor record keeping also meant they could not provide the inquiry with supporting documentation for the reimbursement of around 拢100,000 spent in this way, meaning the inquiry could not conclude that the money was spent solely in furtherance of the charity鈥檚 objects.

Transactions made by the chair on behalf of the charity using his own bank account were also not included in the charity鈥檚 accounts for the financial years ending in December 2017 and 2018. This means they understated the charity鈥檚 income and expenditure by between 拢70,000 and 拢80,000 for both years.

皇冠体育app statutory inquiry also found that the trustees lacked a basic understanding of the charity鈥檚 governing document and their duties as trustees. This resulted in a number of governance failures including the charity operating outside of the geographical area stated on its governing document, not identifying or managing conflicts of interest and making decisions without the required number of trustees.

皇冠体育app regulator issued the trustees with an Action Plan to improve the charity鈥檚 overall governance and decision-making procedures, including to update the charity鈥檚 financial controls policy, familiarise themselves with Commission guidance on conflicts of interest and appoint a professional accountant to assist with record keeping and accounting duties. 皇冠体育app trustees have since implemented the Action Plan.

Amy Spiller, Head of Investigations at the Commission, said:

皇冠体育app trustees鈥� failures in this case resulted in significant amounts of charity money being unaccounted for. This is unacceptable and amounts to misconduct and/or mismanagement.

I hope that the Commission鈥檚 intervention in this case means the charity is now able to deliver on its charitable purposes and improve the lives of the people it was set up to support.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. 皇冠体育app Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.
2. 皇冠体育app Commission opened the inquiry on 01 December 2020. View the full inquiry report.