Ian Allsop casts his eye over 2008. As it is the last Charity Finance of the year, I thought it would be appropriate to have a look back over the last 12 months. It's a common device in Sunday newspapers towards the end of the year, as an easy way of filling pages. Throw in a quiz and book choices from a few famous people and you can cover acres of white space pretty easily. Of course this works better if it has been a busy year rather than one where very little has happened but we'll give it a go.

William Jensen says that being part of financial history is often a terrifying experience. With few exceptions we all have our part in the saga be it as investors, mortgage customers, savers, fundraisers, employers, or pensioners. The rate at which the sense of crisis escalated through the latter days of September has left little opportunity for detached reflection, and ordinary citizens and political leaders alike have been reacting first and rationalising after, assuming there has been time to contemplate before the next critical event.

Over the past few weeks, the rules of global banking have been rewritten. Is it the beginning of the end, ask Richard Maitland and Subitha Subramaniam.

Two camps have been set up with views on the new accounting thresholds. One firmly supports the government's proposals to raise the income level at which charities should submit their annual report to the Charity Commission to £25,000.